


Growing Up

by heartsdesire456



Category: Adam Lambert (Musician)
Genre: Adoption, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-01
Updated: 2013-03-01
Packaged: 2017-12-03 23:51:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 59,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/704064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsdesire456/pseuds/heartsdesire456
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adam always knew he wanted to be a dad. When he was little he used to imagine what it would be like when he was grown up and married with kids. As an adult, his life took a bit of a different turn, a very successful, wonderful turn. However, after seeing so many of his friends happily bringing babies into the world, Adam realizes that the last thing missing from his life is the one that matters most. After so many tries and so much misfortune in his journey to adopt a child, Adam is so close to succeeding when he's hit by a bombshell: The birth mother of the baby he's meant to adopt has the only request that her child to be raised by 'parents' not a 'parent'... and Adam's single. One day while watching Tommy with a friend's baby, Adam gets an idea that he can't get out of his head...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Growing Up

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally posted in pieces on LJ in 2011. Moving it over at request of a friend so it can be downloaded. One of my favorite of my adommy fics (Which is saying something since 3 of my VERY FAVORITE fics I've written were adommy).
> 
> Here in [Chinese](http://tieba.baidu.com/p/3001133809)

Growing up, Adam had always thought he would be a good father and good husband. When he’d figured out his sexuality, the fact he would never have a wife and kids was one of the few things he actually ever had trouble coming to terms with. However, he soon all but forgot about his days as a little boy imagining himself with a child of his own, raising a family with someone else.

The problems started when he met and became friends with Monte. When they met, Monte was just starting his family. Adam didn’t meet his wife and their daughter until she was nearly one, but Adam instantly fell in love with the child. He saw the way Monte loved showing her off to people and, for a few weeks, he wished he could have a family of his own. However, life soon took more advantageous turns and Adam was whisked off to wherever music took him.

For several years he was busy, busy, busy. His time touring in musicals and, even more, his time spent on American Idol, distracted him from even the thought of children. So many new friends and tons of new fans suddenly took up all of the limited spare time he had. The new album and building up his band even distracted him from Lisa being pregnant again. 

The problems resurfaced, however, when the twins were born. Beatrix and Atticus were the most amazing things Adam had ever seen. Getting to be around both newborns and the older, but still small, children, coupled with the realization that, despite just starting his dream career, Adam was going to be thirty in two years made his envy return full force. However, touring and his new friends soon distracted him once again.

But the fact of it was, it seemed that everybody had chosen the last few years of Adam’s twenties to start having babies. It seemed everywhere, friends, family, and even friends of the family were all having babies or nieces and nephews or _something_ in the way of children they could spend time with…

And Adam had never wanted a baby more in his life.

The final straw had been Riff. Riff was the cutest, most adorable baby yet, in Adam’s opinion. He loved spending time with him, he adored holding him, and Adam hated more than anything to give him back to his parents when it was time to go. It was at the end of one of his afternoons hanging out with the Cherrys that, on a whim, he pulled up an adoption website on his phone, just curious about the adoption process. 

Soon, though, Adam found himself calling an agency, speaking with some lawyers, discussing several things with higher ups in the family services system, and suddenly, hypothetical wasn’t exactly so hypothetical anymore.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Mr. Lambert, we’ve hit a… snag,” Margaret, his adoption handler, started. Adam felt his heart drop. It had taken months and more than a few favors done to even get a chance at a baby, nonetheless the two chances that had already slipped out of his grasp before.

“Not again,” he said weakly, sighing as he put his head in his hands. “What is it this time?” he asked softly.

“The baby we have lined up for you is being born soon,” she explained. “Within the next few weeks. The girl, who wishes to be kept anonymous, was told that her baby was going to be adopted by a loving, very stable person, to assure her, you know?” she said, and he made an assenting noise. “But she doesn’t want her baby adopted by a parent,” she said and Adam’s throat tightened. “She wants him adopted by parents.”

Adam sighed. His status as unmarried and not in a serious relationship had been a major drawback for the adoption process even to start with. It had taken begging and pleading and more financial checks than he could remember to prove that he was a stable, financially ready and able man who could provide a child a loving and generous home. He had specifically prepared everything in advance to take a one year break from touring, recording, or even publicity as soon as he got the approval to adopt.

“Is there any way I can just… talk to her? I can provide her baby a loving, stable, supportive, wonderful home and the best life he can hope for. I know I’m single, but isn’t one loving parent better than foster care?” he asked hopefully.

“I’m sorry but she doesn’t want to know her baby’s adopters and she doesn’t want them to know her,” she said. “Look, Adam, the baby isn’t coming for a few weeks. I’ll keep talking to her and maybe we can convince her, okay?” she asked.

Adam sighed and whimpered. “Okay, please try,” he begged, hanging up as she ended the call. He’d had a few close calls and two previous attempts that he thought were sure things. One had been a toddler in foster care that, literally two days before he was meant to sign the adoption papers, the foster parents decided they wanted to adopt her and they got the ruling, not him. The second had been a similar situation, only rather than wanting two parents, the lady had decided to keep her baby after all and, as much as it hurt to lose another opportunity when he was literally waiting to sign the papers, he couldn’t blame her at all. They had met and she was genuinely sorry, but he couldn’t imagine giving up his child anyways, so he didn’t blame her for wanting to keep it at all.

This was a third time that he was so close to having his baby, finally, after so long of wishing he was a father, that it appeared he wasn’t going to get to be a father after all.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The idea happened by accident, really. Adam had never consciously thought about it before, but as he sat watching Tommy cuddling Riff, the idea sprung into his head. “Oh!” he said softly, then turned to Tommy, looking at him. Tommy was just as single as he was. He also adored children just as much as Adam did. Sure, he was straight, but once the idea formed, Adam couldn’t stop himself from blurting it out. “You should totally be my co-parent!” he said, then froze, blushing when Tommy turned to him curiously.

“I should what?” he asked, looking confused, almost as if he figured he had heard wrong.

Adam sighed, taking a deep breath. “Okay, so this is gonna sound crazy, but… um… do you maybe want to fake a relationship with me? At least for a while?” he asked, earning an even more blank stare.

“Adam… are you okay?” Tommy asked curiously.

Adam groaned. “No, no I’m not okay! I’m sick of losing my chances. It’s always something and this time it’s my fault! Why am I single?” he asked, looking up. “I’m attractive, right? And-and not too terrible?” Tommy just stared in confusion. “Fuck, all I need is somebody to say they’re my partner! I don’t even have to actually be married or whatever, I need somebody to be my co-parent so I can get approved and I don’t have that and it’s driving me nuts!” he cried, growling into his hands. 

“Adam, what are you talking about?” Tommy asked, shifting the baby thoughtlessly.

Adam sighed. “I’m-“ he cringed. “Okay, don’t tell anybody else yet, cause I don’t want anybody to know until I’ve done it, but… I’ve been trying to adopt,” he said, and Tommy’s eyes widened.

“WHAT?! Holy shit, that’s- insane but in the most awesome way,” he said, cringing. “Only, you know, international rock star… not the best parent,” he pointed out.

Adam glared. “Fuck you, I’ll be an amazing dad!” he argued and Tommy held up his hand that wasn’t holding a child. “I just…” he sighed. “I’ve gotten so close twice before and like, last minute I lost my opportunities, and it’s so hard,” he said, looking down at his hands with so much pain in his eyes Tommy felt the reality of it hit him. “And now- now I’m losing my third chance,” he said softly. “A girl is having a baby in a few weeks and I’ve been approved to adopt it, I think it’s a boy, and like… since it’s a newborn baby I’ll be able to name him, and go wait for him to be born at the hospital whenever she goes into labor as long as I’m careful not to be seen, cause she doesn’t want to know her baby’s adopting parents or have the parents know who she is,” he explained. “But like… it’s as close to having my own baby as I’ll ever get without having a friend surrogate for me. And I’ve thought of it, I really have, but there are babies pre-made that need parents and I don’t necessarily have to have a newborn, the first one I missed out on was a toddler, and a few of the almost-but-not’s were older children,” he explained. “But this is my closest chance because the last one changed her mind. I was going to sign the papers and to meet the baby when the mother changed her mind, and I can’t blame her, not at all, but it hurts so bad,” he said, clutching his shirt out of desperation. “And this time- I’m single. The woman having this baby wants her baby to have _parents_ , not just one. And I don’t know what to do,” he admitted, putting his face in his hands.

“… So why did you say me?” Tommy asked curiously, looking at how torn apart his friend looked. “What would make me the one you picture being your co-parent?” he asked.

Adam lifted his eyes and raised an eyebrow, glancing pointedly at the baby in Tommy’s arms. Tommy smiled down at the baby and shrugged but Adam snorted. “You are a natural with children. Every child you’ve ever come within four feet of, to my knowledge, you had to stop and cuddle it. You love babies and little kids more than most people who HAVE them,” he pointed out. He shrugged. “It’s stupid, I know, I just… when I looked up and you were playing with Riff, the idea was in my head and it just jumped out of my mouth without thinking. I’m sorry if I freaked you out, or-“

“Well, okay.” Adam frowned, staring at Tommy, who was looking at him with a smile. 

“What?”

Tommy giggled. “I’m not saying yes, dude, but I’m… not exactly getting married and having my own anytime soon. I could consider being your co-parent, maybe,” he allowed, shrugging. “I’ll have to think about it and we’ll have to see what all co-parenting entails legally and shit, but like… I’m a dude who likes kids and you clearly want to be a father so much it hurts you and you’re my friend dude. What are friends for other than to stick by you when you need them most?” he asked with a simple shrug.

Adam just blinked, a smile slowly spreading on his face. “Wait, really?!” he asked, and Tommy nodded. “Oh my God, Tommy!” he cried, covering his mouth when Riff turned to look at him, clearly not happy with his pitch. “Aww, I’m sorry,” he said.

Later, when Tommy and Adam had given the baby back to its rightful parents, Adam only waited for Tommy to be far enough away from knocking him into the parents and baby before launching himself at Tommy, hugging him so hard he could barely breathe. “You’re the best friend ever, TommyJoe, oh my God!” he cried, squeezing him until Tommy kicked him, pulling away in pants.

“Fuck you and your strength dude, I have to breathe!” he choked out, then smiled at Adam through his red-faced coughing fit.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Adam greeted Tommy at the door with a smile. “Hey, dinner’s almost done!” he said, clearly excited. Tommy chuckled as he watched Adam rush back to the kitchen, sliding at the doorway before darting in. Adam had offered to make dinner and they could discuss the possibility of Tommy actually doing this for Adam.

As they ate dinner in the living room, watching a movie Tommy had picked while they ate, Tommy tossed out questions as they came up. “How would your agent react if you call her up and tell her ‘oh, surprise! I have a partner now!’?” he asked. “She’d have to be suspicious.”

Adam hummed. “Well, I never really talked about a boyfriend at all. The information they need is whether or not I’m living with someone,” he pointed out. “I’m sure it will come up in the psychological evaluation next week, but all in all it hasn’t yet, so I can just say I was adopting a baby myself and that I was dating someone but not living together but that my boyfriend and I decided to move in together and adopt together,” he said, shrugging.

Tommy hummed. “Psychological evaluation?” he asked curiously.

Adam nodded. “I’ve already had my financial evaluations, my letters of recommendation, my house has been inspected once but they’ll do another before they let me bring my child home. I’ve got the psychological evaluation next week and I’ve had one health history check done on my medical records and my family medical history, but I have an actual physical checkup the week after the psychological evaluation. They need to be sure I’m not crazy or likely to die soon,” he said and Tommy rolled his eyes.

“I think if you were dying you would know,” he said and Adam shrugged.

“Someone might know they’re not going to be around for long and still try to adopt. It would be really tragic to die before I can be a father but they can’t let you do that because it’s obviously horrible for the child.”

Tommy shuddered. “No shit,” he said and Adam gave him a sympathetic smile. “I’m assuming if we do this, I have to move in with you and like… have all the same checks and shit done on me?” he asked.

Adam hummed. “Well, I know the background check and mental checks probably will, but I’m still the one adopting, you’re just the person I’m raising my child with, hypothetically. So maybe your health and financial stuff isn’t really necessary, because if you die, you’re not technically the parent, and I’m the one providing for my kid,” he mused. “Although yeah, maybe all of them,” he said, shrugging. “Gotta be sure you’re not a child molester or something,” he teased.

Tommy cringed. “God I’m really glad all of a sudden that they DO those checks. Imagine if a child molester was trying to adopt children,” he said and Adam gave him a horrified look.

“Ew! Oh my God, thank you for the nightmares!” he cried, groaning. “Great, now I have to adopt ever kid in California and give them child molester-free homes,” he joked and Tommy grinned. 

“I think you’ll need a bigger house,” he joked and Adam laughed. Tommy nodded. “Okay, so, assuming I agree to this,” he started. “Think about this, Adam,” he said and Adam turned to face him, crossing his legs under him. Tommy did the same and grabbed Adam’s hands. “We will be parents to a baby,” he said and Adam nodded, sitting up straight. “You and I will be trying to raise an _infant_ , Adam. On our schedules. The two of us. Two guys trying to raise a newborn child. You are internationally famous. Not only will it get out that we’re ‘together’, we’ll be swarmed by the paparazzi everywhere we go. Our ‘family’ will be all over the headlines,” he said, and Adam’s eyes grew stormier as he spoke. “And last but not least, if we start this, it’s sort of like… for good,” he said with a sad smile. “I’ve thought about it long and hard and honestly, I think…” he sighed. “I think I’m willing to do this,” he admitted and Adam frowned.

“Now that I think about it, why did you agree?” he asked curiously.

Tommy rolled his eyes. “Do you think you’re the only one that wants a baby?” he asked and Adam smiled knowingly. “I _always_ wanted my own child. I figured I’d just keep waiting, but I’m thirty. Sure, I’m not too young for it, but honestly, this could be my do or die chance at being a parent and if it means a fake relationship with my best friend, I don’t think that’s too bad, you know?” he said and Adam smiled.

“Best friend, huh?” he asked and Tommy scoffed.

“Adam, come on, nobody else gets me like you do,” he said and Adam grinned. “But think about this,” he stressed. “You aren’t like me. You’re always talking about your dream guy. You thought for sure the last one was ‘The One’ and look how it ended,” he said and Adam shuddered. It was still so fresh in his mind. He smiled sadly. “If we do this, you basically don’t get your happily ever after, Adam. I mean, you _can_ but if we’re going to raise a child together, do you really think a guy is going to be okay with not only a child but a child with me as its other father?” he asked.

Adam sighed. “Tommy, if I was still working on finding my ‘One’, I’d have thought a bit harder about adopting. As it is, I care so much more about being a father than being a husband,” he said and Tommy smiled. “I wanted a baby before I even knew I liked boys, Tommy. From as early as I can _remember_ I wanted to be a dad. I want this more than anything. Fuck, I want this more than I want to sing,” he stressed and Tommy felt it strike him, finally, exactly how badly Adam wanted a baby.

“You really mean that,” Tommy said in amazement and Adam bit his lip, nodding.

“I’d give my voice for the chance to be a father about now. I’ve gotten close and realized how _hard_ this is. And I keep telling myself I could just get a friend to surrogate, hell, Danielle even offered when I told her I’m adopting!” He shook his head. “But I’ve got it in my head now that I want to adopt a kid that needs a loving home. I don’t need a baby with my DNA, I need a child who needs a home and a family. I don’t care what gender, I don’t care what AGE! It just happens that my agent has gotten me in line with this girl having a baby boy and I want him so much it hurts,” he said, voice weak.

Tommy sighed. “Okay,” he said and Adam looked at him hopefully. “Adam, I’ll do this, but you have to promise me you aren’t going to forget that, if I’m in this, we’re a _family_. This is my son too,” he said seriously.

Adam smiled widely. “Yes, of course!” he said, then let out a choked sound, leaning in to hug Tommy, who curled his arms around Adam’s neck. “Oh my God, where did I get so lucky to have you?” he asked and Tommy sighed, closing his eyes.

“I’m just glad I’m going to get my chance to be a parent,” he admitted, laughing along with Adam’s happy giggles.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“So like,” Tommy started, laying his head on Adam’s shoulder as they flipped channels. He yawned before continuing. “So, what do we tell people?” he asked, snuggling up closer as his eyes fluttered tiredly.

Adam hummed, putting his arm around Tommy so he could curl into his side. “Well, obviously we’d never fake it to our friends and family that we’ve been dating, so we’ll just tell them the truth, that we both want to be parents and we have a chance to adopt together.” He nudged him, keeping him awake long enough to talk. “C’mon, we gotta finish talking,” he said, tugging his hair playfully.

Tommy whined but pouted up at him. “Why?” he asked grumpily. 

Adam smiled. “Well, publically, what do you wanna say?” he asked.

Tommy yawned. “That you’re a great mommy,” he teased and Adam snorted. “I don’t know, that we decided to be public because we were adopting a baby?” he suggested. “Let’s let them make things up and then just go with whatever sounds best.”

Adam snorted. “You realize _someone_ will, without fail, decide that you’re really a girl and I knocked you up, right?” he asked and Tommy grinned.

“Sounds funny,” he said and Adam snickered. “I’d be a terrible pregnant lady,” he said, tugging up his shirt to look at his stomach appraisingly. “Although I don’t have to worry about ruining my figure,” he allowed, earning a poke to his belly. “Stooop,” he whined, elbowing Adam. He glared up at him sleepily. “I give up my girlish figure to have your kid-“

Adam rolled his eyes, shoving Tommy away playfully. “Oh my God, you are such a freak. Why am I adopting a kid with you?” he teased and Tommy flopped back against the opposite arm, tossing his legs into Adam’s lap.

“Cause we’ll be great dads,” Tommy said and Adam fought the gleeful happiness he felt at the thought of himself as someone’s dad.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tommy woke up to someone shoving him. He looked up and saw Adam on the phone. He sat up and whined in pain. His back hated him really badly for sleeping on the couch all night. “Yes, ma’am, he’s here,” he said, and Tommy jumped up, following Adam as he gestured for him to follow. “Yeah, sure,” he said, then put the phone down on the counter. “Margaret, this is Tommy Ratliff,” he announced and gestured for Tommy to say hi.

“Hello, Ma’am,” he said, biting his thumbnail nervously.

“So… why haven’t you told me before that you _have_ a boyfriend, Adam?” she asked shortly.

Adam cringed. “Well… he wasn’t living with me. I was adopting this baby on my own.”

“Was?” she asked.

Tommy saw the uneasy look on Adam’s face and spoke up. “I kind of reconsidered. When he first started talking about adopting, I thought he was just kidding sort of, but like… the longer he’s been trying this, he’s been getting so upset over all of this I’ve really started to understand how much this means to him,” he explained quickly. “And I love children, we both do. I just wasn’t really sure about all this. But now I’ve decided that this is what we need. I’m moving in with him and we’re going to be parents together,” he said, rolling his eyes at the bright smile on Adam’s face when he said the word ‘parents’. “This means so much to him that I want to be a part of it,” he said and Adam smirked at his ‘acting’.

“I’m assuming since you don’t live together yet, that you aren’t domestic partners?” she asked and Adam frowned.

“Well, no, why?” he asked. “That’s… is that a requirement?” he asked, biting his lip.

“If you plan on adopting together, it is,” she explained. “It’s not required but I would really suggest it,” she said in a serious voice. “I mean, excuse me for sounding insensitive, but what does it convey to the board that you want to adopt a baby together but aren’t legally committed to each other?” she asked.

Tommy cringed and Adam’s eyes dimmed. “Oh,” Adam said uneasily. “I guess… well that makes sense.” His shoulders dropped and Tommy reached over and grabbed his hand comfortingly.

“Look, Adam, I know you mean this. I know you’re a stable person and I know you want to be a father. I’m going to try my best to get you this baby. And it’s great you guys want to raise it together, it’s wonderful that you want to give this baby a loving family, but the courts haven’t met you, the judge doesn’t know your struggles so far to adopt. They just see what’s on paper, and on paper, you are a single man trying to adopt a baby. However, if you guys were registered domestic partners, it is legally like a married couple adopting a baby. You _can_ still adopt a child on your own and later, if you choose, Tommy can perform the equivalent to stepparent adoption.”

Adam bit his lip. “Margaret, we really want this to be _our_ child,” he said, and Tommy gave him a grateful look, squeezing his fingers. “I mean, if we do this, we’re in this for good, obviously.”

“Well, if that’s the case, you should be just as serious about ‘for good’ with your relationship, right? Go register for domestic partnership and then we’ll set him up for evaluations and get the ball rolling on joint adoption,” she said and Tommy and Adam looked at each other. “And listen, joint adoption, now. Remember that. If you two end up splitting up, there’s a whole custody battle there, so _do not_ come into this lightly, Adam. I know you are serious, but your boyfriend better be just as serious about this as you,” she said. “Call me when you’ve decided,” she said, hanging up.

Tommy and Adam stared at each other and Adam sighed, dropping his head. “I’m sorry,” he said and Tommy shot him a look. “Fuck, I should’ve never got you involved in this. What the fuck was I thinking-“

“Adam, chill out,” Tommy said, going around the counter to catch Adam by his shoulders. “Adam, look at me,” he said and Adam looked up. “Don’t be sorry.”

“I’ve gotten you involved in _my_ stupid attempts to adopt a baby!” Adam argued. “Fuck, what am I even doing adopting a baby? Who would give me a baby, Tommy? Why? Why are they even thinking about letting some famous, busy, nearly middle-aged, fag adopt a kid?” he asked and Tommy punched him in the shoulder, glaring when Adam looked at him in surprise. “What the fuck?!”

“Don’t call yourself a fag,” he chastised. “And stop this self depreciating shit. You surprised me at the start, but I’ve realized how important this is to you, dude. I understand,” he said seriously. “Hell, I’m half-obsessed with adopting this kid with you and I haven’t been the one trying for months to do so!” he exclaimed. “You are great with children and you are one of the most responsible and hardworking people I’ve ever met,” he stressed. “If you want to be a dad, you will be the best dad anybody can be,” he said and Adam smiled sadly. 

“But still, this whole idea was ridiculous. I mean… really?” he said and Tommy shot him a look. “What? I’m asking my straight best friend to adopt a child with me!” he stressed and Tommy shook his head.

“No, you _are_ adopting a kid with your straight best friend. I’m committed to this now, dude. Like, seriously,” he said.

“But Tommy, you heard her! I can’t ask you to _marry_ me!” he hissed, eyes wide. “You’re not gay!”

Tommy shot him a look. “Adam, I’m moving in with you and adopting a baby with you. A _baby_. Do you really think a contract with the state of California is a bigger deal?” he asked pointedly.

Adam bit his lip. “Well… no, I guess not,” he said and Tommy rolled his eyes.

“You idiot,” he said affectionately, then grabbed his hand. “Come on, we can do this, okay? And then at least if something were to happen to you, they couldn’t take our kid from me,” he said, and Adam blinked.

“Oh dude, that’s right!” he said, cringing. “Okay, yeah, that’s fine.” He sighed. “Fuck we’re doing this,” he said and Tommy rolled his eyes.

“Dude, really? You think I’d back out on you that fast? We maybe rushed into this, but we first talked about this less than two weeks ago. And we’re both pretty spontaneous dudes, right?”

Adam nodded, sighing as he hugged Tommy. “Fuck, you’re really sort of the most awesome friend ever,” he stressed and Tommy grinned.

“Pretty sure someone less awesome wouldn’t put up with half of your shit, Adam,” he said, earning a thump to the ear.

“Asshole,” Adam muttered, though he didn’t let go of Tommy.

Tommy giggled. “But an _awesome_ one,” he said impishly, earning another thump.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“This does not feel like getting married in any sense of the word,” Tommy said as he signed the forms for his and Adam’s domestic partnership. “Like, really,” he said, finishing the last one before handing them to Adam.

Adam rolled his eyes. “Cause it’s not getting married,” he said, making sure everything was signed. “Legally, it’s as close as I’m ever gonna get now, but really, no wedding, not marriage, I say,” he said.

Tommy smirked. “You would look great in a wedding dress,” he joked, nudging him.

Adam snorted. “At least if you get a like… courthouse marriage you’re there and it’s like… officiated and shit,” he said, putting the papers in the envelope. “And, even less marriage like, we mail this to Sacramento and then get a paper saying ‘good luck!’ and that’s the only thing to say we’re actually… whatever you call it,” he said, shrugging. “Domestic partnered or something.”

Tommy grinned. “Sweet! So much less to do,” he said and Adam glared.

“Yeah, tell that to my parents, who will _murder_ us when they find out they never get to see me have a wedding,” he said pointedly.

Tommy chuckled. “Make Neil get married to somebody for them. Hell, he’s not getting any, may as well just find some nice chick to marry him and shit. At least then he’ll get laid occasionally,” he said and Adam shot him a look.

“Well, you sorta just signed away your chances to get laid like… ever again,” he pointed out.

Tommy cringed. “I was trying to ignore that part, thank you, Adam,” he said and Adam rolled his eyes. “God, that’s a horrible thought,” he said, sighing. “Oh well, at least I’m nearly middle aged. Not like I didn’t have my fun in my twenties,” he said, shrugging.

Adam snorted. “I’m still young and I’m only a year younger, fuck that,” he said. He smiled. “I just want to be a dad way more than I want sex,” he said honestly.

Tommy smiled. “We’re this much closer now,” he said softly. “We’re doing this, Adam. We’re going to have a baby,” he said brightly. Adam just beamed, bouncing a little.

“God, I’m gonna be a dad, Tommy. We’re going to be dads!” he said, smiling about as widely as Tommy had ever seen him smile.

Tommy reached out and pulled Adam into a hug. “We’re totally gonna be dads,” he said, looking up at him. “Hopefully in a few weeks.” Adam just let out a happy laugh, tugging Tommy into jumping around the room happily.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“This is insane,” Tommy said, reading over the brochure Margaret had given him. “Why the fuck do they need two hours to do their psychiatric evaluation?” he asked, looking up at Adam and then at Margaret.

“Well, we did Adam’s in four sessions, you’ve only got one,” she said and Adam smiled at him, reaching over to grab his hand between the chairs in which they were seated in Margaret’s office. “If we’re going to get you approved to adopt this baby, it’s due in three weeks now. We don’t have time to put stuff off. Everything we need from you is being done this week and we’ve got to get you guys approved for initial custody fast, in case the baby’s born a few weeks early,” she said pointedly.

Adam bit his lip. “So we can still get initial custody, right? Like, I know we can’t get the full adoption for a few months after we’ve had custody of the baby, but we’ve got him still, right?” he asked uneasily.

She nodded. “As long as Tommy checks out, there’s no problem with custody,” she smiled. “You should still be able to be the first, other than nurses and doctors and such, to hold him if you are at the hospital when I call you,” she said and Adam looked positively _radiant_ as he smiled at the thought.

Tommy grinned, squeezing Adam’s fingers. “Well, no guessing whether or not that makes you happy,” he teased. “Okay, I’ll do whatever I gotta do,” he said honestly. “I want to be sure Adam gets to hold our baby as soon as they’ll let him.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“So Mr. Ratliff.” Tommy looked up, annoyed at having to sit on a paper-covered table in his underwear. He wasn’t really even sure what the point of being in his underwear _was_. Sure, the guy had listened to his lungs and heart, but surely he could’ve kept his jeans for that. “When was the last time you had a check-up?” the doctor asked, marking whatever doctors marked in the folder with Tommy’s name on it. “I don’t see any record of vaccinations in the last ten years,” he said and Tommy cringed.

“Um, about… twelve years maybe?” he said and the doctor looked up, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t really get sick much,” he said defensively.

The doctor nodded. “So, why the physical now?” he asked, making a note. 

Tommy ducked his head, smiling. “Adopting a baby,” he said happily.

The doctor smiled. “Congratulations, Mr. Ratliff,” he said. “Well, you need your flu shot if you’re gonna be around a baby. I’d also suggest you go ahead and get your tetanus shot. That stuff’ll kill you before you know you have it.”

Tommy nodded. “Sure, I mean, would suck to leave my baby with one parent,” he said, smiling to himself.

The doctor just rolled his eyes. “Alright, I’ll get the nurse to get together the vaccines,” he said, turning to walk out. 

“So, I’m healthy, right?” Tommy asked nervously.

The doctor turned back and nodded. “Don’t worry, you’ll be able to get your child,” he said, smiling at Tommy before walking out.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“And how does that make you feel?” 

Tommy clenched his jaw, fighting the part of him that wanted to strangle the woman in the chair across from him. “Take a wild guess,” he said tightly. “I entered domestic partnership with my boyfriend, what could that possibly make me feel? Could it maybe be _happy_?!”

She just raised an eyebrow. “I’m just trying to see things from your point of view, Tommy-“

“Okay, look,” he said, holding up his hands in frustration. “I’ve been here for an hour and a half. I have told you basically every detail of my pathetic life and exactly how it all made me feel. For fucks sake, does my favorite flavor of ice cream really have anything to do with how good of a dad I’ll be? The only reason I’m here is to make it clear I’m not a psycho or a child molester so I can adopt a baby with my partner. What more could you possibly want me to say? I can’t prove to you through my choice of favorite color how good of a parent I’ll be, I doubt I can say anything else at all to prove to you that I am ready to be a parent. I just want you to give me your pointless approval so they’ll let us have the baby we’re trying to adopt.” He sighed, hanging his head. “I really doubt people who have babies have to have a psych evaluation, they just fuck. Unfortunately for me, I’m gay,” he said, inwardly amused at saying that out loud and not meaning it. “I don’t have the luxury of just having sex and getting a baby later on down the road, you know?” he said, shaking his head. “And now you’ll probably say some shit about how I’m impatient or something because I’m fed up in an hour and a half of listening to dumb questions that really make no sense-“

“I think we’re about done,” she said simply, standing. “Thank you for coming by, Mr. Ratliff,” she said, seeing him out. He sighed, walking out with dread in the pit of his stomach, wondering what this would mean for his and Adam’s baby, only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder at the door. “For the record, I think you’ll be a great father,” she said, smiling at him.

Tommy gave her a shocked glance, then turned and walked away, chewing on his lip nervously as he hoped she meant what he thought she might.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When Tommy got home from the psychological evaluation, his brain hurt. He just wanted to take a nap. However, when he walked in, the first thing he saw was one of the last people he wanted to deal with at the moment. “TommyJoe! You little shit, you went and MARRIED Adam without telling anybody!?”

Tommy groaned. “Hey Brad,” he said, accepting the massive hug he always got. He loved Brad, he really did, but he was not in the mood for a massive ball of energy. He looked up and saw Adam sitting on the couch, looking at a book. He walked over, ignoring Brad’s pout at being barely given any attention, and face planted on the couch, face smushing into the book on Adam’s lap. 

“You know, you could’ve warned me before you smashed the book into my dick,” Adam said, shoving at Tommy’s head until he rolled over, laying on Adam’s thigh, not the book. “The only reason that didn’t hurt is because the book dug into my fat belly and stopped itself on the way down,” he said, looking into Tommy’s eyes from above. “What’s wrong?” he asked, immediately sliding his fingers into Tommy’s hair.

Tommy moaned at the feeling. “She broke my brain.”

Adam laughed. “Aww, I’m sure your poor little brain is okay,” he said and then smiled. “So, how did it go?”

Tommy cringed. “Might’ve fucked up a little,” he said and Adam stopped. “I think she likes me though! She said I’d be a great dad, so I guess I did get a seal of approval, but like…I sorta just freaked out on her and kinda went into a mindless rant about how my favorite color won’t prove I’m not a child molester or some shit,” he said and Adam glared.

“If you just fucked up me getting my baby, I’ll kill you,” he said pointedly. “I’m totally okay with being a widower that fast.”

Tommy smiled. “I think the part about ‘straight people don’t have to deal with having their brain raped to get a baby, they just have sex’ maybe helped,” he said with a cheeky smile.

“Wait wait wait, what?” They both went wide eyed at each other, turning immediately towards Brad. “What is this about a _baby_?!” he asked.

Tommy sat up so fast he nearly head butted Adam. “Why did you ask me about the psycho lady if he doesn’t know we’re adopting a baby!” he asked and Adam cringed.

“I was gonna tell him, you just got home early!” he defended.

Brad gaped. “I already got the part where you’re not actually into dudes,” he said to Tommy. “But he didn’t mention a _baby_!” he stressed.

Adam smiled. “Tommy and I got ‘married’ so we can adopt a baby together!” he said brightly and Tommy nodded.

Brad just stared. “Are you actually insane?” he asked.

Tommy cringed and Adam pouted. “Hey, I’m gonna be a great dad! Tommy too!” he said, then smiled down at him. “Only a few weeks now,” he said in an excited voice.

“Adam, you’re famous!” Brad said and Adam snorted.

“Yeah, I didn’t notice, thanks.”

Brad sighed. “What I mean is that you’re going to get in so much shit when you get found out,” he said, shaking his head. “Do you have any idea how you’ll work when you’ve got a kid?!”

Tommy shrugged. “Adam’s going to take a while off until our baby is older and we can bring him with us,” he said, and Adam nodded. “He’ll be the most loved baby in the world,” he pointed out and Adam beamed.

Brad just shook his head. “He’ll be the most _stalked_ baby!” he said. “Adam, come on, you’re not even thirty for a month!”

Adam glared. “I’ve wanted a baby for so long it isn’t funny. Do you have any clue how bad I want this? I am finally going to be a dad! I’ve wanted to be a dad since before I knew I liked boys, Brad. I’ve come so close twice already and this time it looks like we’re actually going to have a baby any day now!” he stressed. “And our son will be literally the best thing to ever happen to me and nothing can take away from that,” he said, biting his lip as he looked over at Tommy, who nodded, squeezing his hand.

“Of course he’s going to be the best thing that’s ever happened to us,” he said and Adam smiled gratefully.

Brad sighed. “Alright, but why did you two decide to get married and adopt a baby together?” he asked.

Adam shrugged. “I needed someone to adopt the baby with me. This is my third close chance and the mother wants parents, not a parent. That’s her only concern at all. I sorta just blurted it out at first and Tommy agreed off the bat. When we really discussed it and thought about it and talked about it, Tommy admitted he’s sort of just as interested in being a dad as I am, and I mean… why not? Obviously he could always have waited and got married and had kids-“

Tommy cut him off. “But there’s no guarantee of that, you know? Who knows if I would’ve ever met a girl I wanted to marry and have children with? And I mean, sure, Adam and I aren’t actually ‘together’ together, but we’re best friends, right? This could’ve been my only chance to have a child and Adam needs my help getting this baby so why not?” he asked. “This way we can both get our child we want and we can give this baby a great home and a loving family.”

Adam nodded. “We’ll be amazing parents,” he said firmly.

Brad just waved a hand. “You always have been a strange man, Adam Lambert, so I don’t know why this surprises me anyways,” he admitted, earning snickers from Tommy. “Fine, I just demand to get to babysit-“

“NO!” both Adam and Tommy exclaimed loudly.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Adam and Tommy were actually right in the middle of discussing what they were thinking as far as names with their mothers, who had met them for dinner, when Adam’s phone rang. He frowned when he looked at the display. “It’s Margaret,” he said, and Tommy’s eyes widened as he answered. “Hello?”

“The mother of your baby has gone into labor. The baby won’t be born for a few more hours, but you have clearance to take custody initially, so it is within your rights to be the first person other than doctors and nurses to hold your son, Adam.” Adam just stayed silent in shock. “Adam, you’re about to be a father!” Margaret said brightly.

Adam just shook his head. “What?!” he cried, eyes wide. “Like… _now_?!” he asked.

“Yes! I’d suggest ditch whatever stalkers may be following you and get to the hospital we discussed within the next few hours. Your son will be here before sun up, surely,” she said.

Adam just let out a happy laugh, covering his mouth when half the restaurant looked over. “Oh my God, thank you! Fuck, um, yeah, on our way,” he said, hanging up. 

“Adam?” Tommy asked, looking at him hopefully.

Adam just beamed, nodding. “She went into labor, our baby’s going to be here in a few _hours_!” he said happily.

Tommy gasped. “Fuck, we were meant to have another week and a half, we still don’t have half the baby stuff set up-“

“We’ll deal with that later, Tommy! Come on, our _son_ is being born!” Adam whispered excitedly, careful not to say it too loud.

Tommy’s face split into a giant smile. “Oh yeah, that,” he said, then leaned over and hugged Adam, who nearly fell out of his chair as he tugged Tommy closer. “Come on,” he said, then nodded at his mom. “You’re coming,” he said and she beamed.

“God, never thought I’d find out and become a grandmother all within a day,” she said, standing up when Leila did.

On their way to the car, Adam was muttering to himself. “Fuck, I still haven’t told Dad or Neil or- well I did tell Danielle, so that’s good-“

“Why did you tell friends before your dad and brother?” Tommy asked, frowning.

Adam cringed. “I wanted to wait until they’re coming to visit next week so I could tell them in person. I mean, they’re going to be a grandparent and an uncle now,” he said, and Tommy cringed.

“I told my sister over an email,” he admitted and Adam shot him a look.

“Insensitive,” he accused, pointing at him. “However, at the moment, you’re about to become the other father of my child, so whatever,” he said, sliding into the driver’s seat while Tommy hopped into the passenger seat. “Let’s go be dads,” he said and Tommy beamed.

“Sounds good,” he said excitedly.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Giving birth, Tommy discovered, seemed to take ages. When they’d first arrived he’d been all jumpy and excited, ready to greet their child any minutes now. However, at two in the morning, several hours later, he was laying across some seats in the visitors’ room with his head in Adam’s lap while Adam spoke to his dad on the phone. 

“Yeah, we’re thinking Jonah. I know, right?” he said, smiling as he stroked his fingers through Tommy’s hair. “Oh Tommy hates it, a lot,” he said and Tommy chuckled, snuggling into Adam’s thigh happily. “Says he doesn’t want to doom his kid to a name of somebody who supposedly got eaten by a fish, but honestly, I think he is actually secretly sad because it’s a letter off of the Jonas Brothers,” he teased, tugging at Tommy’s bangs playfully.

“Tell him I expect to be addressed as ‘my favorite son-in-law’ from now on,” Tommy said, looking up at Adam tiredly.

Adam snickered and relayed his message, only to laugh. “Dad says you can be until Neil marries and then your title gets swapped to daughter-in-law so he doesn’t accidentally call Neil’s wife a son-in-law,” he said and Tommy shrugged.

“Eh, that’s fine. I’m pretty enough to be his daughter-in-law,” he said, winking.

Adam snorted. “So terribly modest, Tommy,” he said, ruffling his hair. “Why are you in my lap anyways? You can’t be tired-“

“Adam?” Adam and Tommy both looked up and saw Margaret walking in, holding a folder. “How are you guys?” she asked, walking over.

Adam smiled nervously. “Excited,” he said and she smiled. Tommy sat up quickly, shoving his fingers through his hair. 

“How’re things going?” he asked, biting his lip.

Margaret smiled and held out the folder. “Last forms to sign. There’s still a lot of corners you guys cut, so it’ll be almost a whole year before the adoption is completed, but this will give you the right to take him home in a few days,” she said and Adam beamed, all but snatching the forms. He and Tommy quickly signed the dotted lines and then handed them back.

“So, um, really?” Adam asked, beaming.

She bit her lip and then smiled. “Your son was born fifteen minutes ago. You get to go hold him now,” she said, and Adam all but leapt up, arms up.

“I’m a dad?!” he asked and she nodded.

Tommy’s heart thudded as he stood up, only to be swept up in a hug form Adam. “Holy shit,” he whispered, curling his arms around Adam’s shoulders. He looked up, meeting Adam’s eyes. “We’re dads!” he said in shock. “Adam, we’ve got a son!”

Adam nodded, all but squishing Tommy. “Oh my God, we’re parents!” he cried, pressing their foreheads together. “Come on, let’s go,” he said, grabbing Tommy’s hand in his.

When they got to the nursery, the only blind open was in front of a little plastic bassinet holding a tiny, clearly unhappy baby who was being wrapped in a blanket by the nurse. “That’s him?” Tommy asked, looking over at Margaret, who nodded.

“That’s your son,” she said, and Tommy felt his throat close as he looked at the screaming baby.

Adam curled his arms around Tommy from behind, looking over his shoulder. “Tommy… Tommy we’ve got a baby,” he whispered wetly and Tommy looked up at him, blinking back tears.

“Dude… can we make a deal that I won’t call you a pussy for crying like a giant girl if you don’t call me one?” he asked, sniffling as he smiled up at Adam.

Adam just giggled wetly, leaning down to kiss Tommy’s cheek. “We’re allowed to be massive girls,” he said, leaning his head against Tommy’s as they watched their son through the glass.

“Adam?” They both turned their heads to look at Margaret, who had come back with a nurse with a pink food embroidered on her scrubs.

“Hi, Mr. Lambert, you can come in and hold him if you want,” she said and Adam froze.

“Really?” he asked softly.

Tommy nudged him. “Dude, go on, you get to hold him before anybody other than the doctors and nurses do,” he said, tugging Adam’s arms from around him.

Adam just nodded, wiping at his cheeks bashfully, cringing as he saw the black stains on his fingertips. “Yeah, sure,” he said, smiling brightly.

Tommy stood at the window and watched as Adam was led in, he washed up, and then walked over towards the baby. The nurse picked him up and then handed him to Adam, who took him into his arms immediately, holding him close. Tommy could see the woman’s slight surprise at how Adam showed no reluctance in holding the baby. He could imagine not many people would just assume Adam was so amazing with babies. Tommy wouldn’t even pretend he wasn’t crying as he watched Adam holding their baby, looking at him like he was the most important thing ever.

Tommy knew he absolutely was now.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The next afternoon, Adam and Tommy were allowed to take their baby to a small room so that family could visit with the baby. Leila spent about fifteen minutes arguing with Adam about why she should be allowed to hold her grandson. “Mom, you may be dirty!” he argued with finality, cuddling his son close.

“Adam, as a mother myself,” Danielle cut in. “Trust me, babies are not that fragile. He’s not gonna get sick just because your mom walked past someone that breathed on her,” she said.

He pouted. “He could,” he said, smiling down at his son. “Alright, go see Grandma,” he said, carefully handing him to Leila, only to give her a pointed look when he started whimpering and whining.

“Oh, come on, shhhhh, be good for me,” Leila said, smiling. “You’re so sweet,” she said, looking at the baby’s face.

Tommy beamed from his spot beside Adam, kicking his feet a little. “He’s so fucking beautiful!” he said, bouncing a bit. Their son had the biggest eyes, a head full of hair for a newborn, and the fattest little face Tommy could imagine. He was absolutely tiny but the nurse said that he was actually a pretty big baby at just under eight pounds. Adam had practically had to pry him out of Tommy’s hands once Tommy got him. He loved him so much already.

Adam laughed. “He’s perfect and adorable,” he agreed, letting Tommy squeeze his hand. There was a knock and they all looked up to see Adam’s dad standing at the door. “Dad!” he said brightly.

“You know, when you said I was a grandfather, I honestly thought you were trying to tell me something about your brother,” he teased and Adam made a face.

“Sorry, I meant to tell you but you and Neil were visiting later in the week and I figured we’d tell you in person,” he said, then smiled as he looked over at his son. “So, anyways, Dad, this is Jonah,” he said, taking his son back from Leila. He walked over to show him off, smiling when his Dad leaned over, grabbing the baby’s tiny hand.

“Hey there, Jonah,” he said, making faces at the baby, who just stared. Adam saw Tommy fighting laughter out of the corner of his eye and turned, shooting him a look. “What’s his whole name?” he asked.

“Jonah Alexander Lambert,” Adam said brightly. 

“Personally, I still think Damian would’ve been better than Alexander,” Tommy started and Adam glared.

“I would never name my baby boy after a character in a horror film, Tommy!” Adam argued, then smiled, cuddling Jonah. “Besides, you like Jonah, you just won’t admit it because it’s not all tough and shit,” he said and Tommy made a face.

“Jonah, I’m your grandpa,” Eber said, smiling down at the baby. “Aww, he’s so cute!” He looked up. “I should be shocked you adopted a baby without telling anybody, but mostly because you’re a gossip,” he said and Adam grinned.

“I’ve been trying for so long and now I’m a dad,” he said happily. “Our baby is awesome,” he said, smiling at Tommy.

Tommy nodded. “Our baby is the coolest,” he said, walking over. “Sweet baby,” he said, kissing his sons head. “And he gets to come home tomorrow afternoon. They said he’s perfectly healthy and as long as he doesn’t show any problems eating and digesting before tomorrow afternoon, we should be able to take him home.”

Adam cringed. “I hate to say it, but one of us has to go home and get everything we didn’t have finished set up,” he said.

Tommy groaned. “We don’t have half the stuff we’ll need, but how about in a little while, I’ll take somebody and we can go home and put the crib together. We’ve got diapers and the changing table and enough baby clothes for now and food and shit, the crib is the only thing we’re really behind on. We haven’t got a lot of other stuff, but that’s the most immediate. I mean, we can buy a baby tub and more than sleepers and I’m sure that, until we get time to buy one, Monte can lend us a car seat to take him home in,” he said.

Adam nodded. “We can worry about the other stuff once we get him home and settled,” he said.

“Or,” Leila started. “You two can focus on the shock that is suddenly having a newborn baby at home and let us all bother buying him things. We’re grandmothers here,” she said, gesturing to Dia and back to herself. “We’ve got it covered,” she said. “And when Neil gets here, he and your dad can do all the shitty stuff, like putting up the playpen and assembling baby toys,” she said and Adam smiled.

“Besides,” Dia started. “Despite all the products out there, I bathed you in a sink rather than a baby tub and laid you on the floor on a towel instead of a special blanket when you started learning to roll over, Tommy, and you didn’t die,” she said.

Adam snickered. “I don’t know maybe that’s what’s wrong with him now-“

“Hey!” Tommy said in contempt, pouting up at Adam.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tommy beamed, walking around, bouncing Jonah on his shoulder. “And here’s Daddy’s room!” he said, turning Jonah around, holding him in his arms as he stood in the middle of his bedroom. “You know, I doubt you can see that far, but there’s posters everywhere!” he said, kissing Jonah’s head. “C’mon, let’s go look at Dad’s room,” he said, across the landing to Adam’s room. He spotted Adam sitting at his desk checking his emails and he grinned, walking over. “See! There’s dad!” he told Jonah, catching Adam’s attention.

Adam looked up, smiling when he saw them. “Hey there, how’s my little man?” he asked, holding out his hands. Tommy handed Jonah over and leaned against the desk, looking at Adam, who spun back and forth some, smiling and making faces at Jonah. “Dad loves you,” he said, kissing his forehead. “Yes he does!” He looked up. “You know, teaching him Dad and Daddy is probably going to be far from easy for him to understand,” he said and Tommy shrugged.

“He’ll get it eventually. Honestly, though, it’s a while before he even starts with ‘dada’ so it’s not that big of a problem,” he said, reaching out to flatten a piece of hair sticking up. “He’s got such dark hair,” he said and Adam nodded.

“As straight and dark as it is, I wonder if maybe the biological father isn’t Asian,” he said, kissing Jonah’s hair. “I mean, he looks like a white baby, but how many white newborns have this much straight, dark hair?” he asked, smiling at the head full of downy soft hair their son had. “I mean, the adoption service did say that the mother was white but it never mentioned the baby’s father at all. I didn’t give a damn what race my baby was, but it would be interesting to know,” he mentioned.

Tommy smiled. “Whatever race, he’s our beautiful little boy,” he said, leaning down to kiss Jonah, who was starting to whimper. “Shhh, don’t cry,” he said, though his words went ignored and Jonah promptly started crying. 

Adam glanced at his laptop. “When’s he supposed to eat again?” he asked.

Tommy rolled his eyes. “Not for another hour,” he said. “But he’s not sleepy, he just woke up, he’s not wet, I just changed him when he woke up, and this whole ‘schedule your baby’ thing really isn’t happening,” he said and Adam rolled his eyes.

“My mom is going to be so smug,” he said and Tommy raised an eyebrow. Adam sighed. “I told her we were doing what the baby books said and trying to get him on a regular feeding and sleeping schedule, right? She just laughed at me,” he said bitterly.

Tommy grinned. “My mom laughed her ass off when I told her we were following what the parenting books said. She told me those books might sound good, but they’re generally bullshit. So far, I’m starting to agree,” he said, looking down at Jonah, who was starting to cry harder. “He’s hungry, I know he is.”

Adam nodded. “I think so. He can’t be tired, he isn’t wet… he’s gotta be hungry or just fussy,” he said.

Tommy shook his head. “Alright, I’ll walk around with him for a little while and if he doesn’t quiet down, I’ll go ahead and feed him. If he’s hungry, I’m not gonna starve the poor baby for another hour,” he said, taking him back when Adam offered him. “Shhh, come on, it’s okay,” he said, rocking him gently as he headed out.

Adam just shook his head, smiling as they left. “Fuck, I’ve got a family,” he said to himself.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tommy and Adam had had Jonah home for a week and a half and the ‘schedule your baby’ idea was long out the window. It was only seven, but Jonah was asleep, which meant so were Adam and Tommy. Since they both had cleared schedules for the first month and a half, they figured their best bet was to sleep when Jonah did. They were exhausted. It wasn’t as bad as they saw in the movies and heard horror stories of, Jonah DID sleep for a long time, usually for around six or seven hours at night, but they were never the same six or seven hours. Some nights he stayed up until past midnight and slept until after the sun was up, but some nights he fell asleep as early as five and woke up just after midnight, wide awake for hours. 

Tommy and Adam figured their best bet was to sleep while they could.

So when, just after seven, as they were climbing into their respective beds, the doorbell rang, they were both very much annoyed. Tommy considered not getting up, but just after he heard Adam walking down the stairs, he heard Jonah start crying. Tommy groaned. Adam had the baby monitor that night, so if he could hear Jonah crying from his bedroom, Jonah had to be screaming. Tommy got up and shuffled across the hall into Jonah’s nursery. He cringed at the level the baby’s screaming could reach. “Shhh, it’s okay, Daddy’s got you,” he said, carefully leaning in to pick him up. Jonah was clearly startled by the doorbell. “It’s okay, it’s just the doorbell, it won’t hurt you,” he said, kissing his head. “Shhh, come on, let’s walk around,” he said, bouncing Jonah some as he walked out into the hall, pacing back and forth some.

He glanced down the stairs and frowned when he saw Adam heading upstairs. “Aww, it’s okay, baby,” he said, coming up the last few steps faster. “Shhh,” he said, walking over to Tommy, holding Jonah’s hand. “Shhh, don’t cry,” he said, smoothing a hand over his tiny head. 

“Adam, who the fuck is here?” Tommy asked, yawning.

Adam smiled, clearly amused. “Apparently, our friends and family decided that a surprise baby shower was in order,” he said, and Tommy raised an eyebrow. “There’s food and tons of baby gifts and shit,” he said. “Come on, we may as well go let them all see him. He’ll definitely be crying for a while when they shuffle him around, so it serves them right for waking him up,” he said and Tommy smirked.

“I like the way you think, Lambert,” he said, yawning as he leaned into Adam’s chest. “They pass him around, and I’ll sleep standing just like this,” he said, earning laugh.

“Don’t fall asleep holding Jonah,” Adam teased, then playfully turned Tommy to face the stairs.

Tommy rolled his eyes but headed downstairs, ignoring Adam talking to Jonah from behind him. When he got to the living room, he glared at everybody, rubbing Jonah’s back, since he was _still_ crying. “Tommy!” Monte said and Tommy glared.

“You asshats woke up a baby who was FINALLY asleep. I hate you all,” he said, looking around. “Except you, mom, cause you had to deal with this from me,” he amended, nodding to her.

She chuckled. “You two going to bed at seven is hilarious,” she said and Adam rolled his eyes.

“Jonah sleeps, it’s not like he’s up every hour, he just sleeps weird times. If he falls out at seven, we’re going to bed too because he’ll be up around one or two.” He cringed. “And he’ll be up for hours,” he said gravely.

Tommy flopped down on the couch, holding Jonah on his chest as he leaned against the arm. “Shhh, come on baby,” he said, kissing his head. Jonah’s cries had quieted down to a less earsplitting level, but he was still going. “Adam, come sing to him,” Tommy said with wide, pleading eyes.

Adam rolled his eyes. “Scoot,” he said, and Tommy sat up, letting Adam sit beside him. He leaned against Adam and smiled when Adam leaned down so that he was level with Jonah. Tommy leaned his head against Adam’s neck while Adam hummed softly, stroking a fingertip over Jonah’s cheek. Tommy heard a dozen ‘awwwwwww’s but ignored them. He had fast discovered that Adam’s voice seemed to calm Jonah and he just wanted Jonah to calm down. Tommy smiled down at Jonah’s flaily hands as Adam started singing another round of lullabies in hopes to stop him crying.

Eventually, once Jonah had stopped crying, Tommy passed him over to Leila, who cuddled him. He was all bright eyed and awake now, so he figured passing him around might tire him out. Adam smiled, leaning over to rest his head on Tommy’s shoulder. “Our baby’s awesome,” he said, and Tommy nodded, turning to lean his head against Adam’s.

“He’s gonna be spoiled rotten,” he joked and Adam laughed.

“Oh yeah.” Adam yawned, curling an arm around Tommy’s middle. “You talk to people, I’m napping,” Adam said, snuggling into Tommy’s shoulder.

Tommy snorted. “I’m not a pillow, you can entertain the nice people who brought us baby things,” he said, pressing a kiss to Adam’s forehead. 

“Mmm, do I have to?”Adam whined and Tommy snickered.

“Yep!” Tommy jostled Adam then sat up, grabbing Adam’s hand to tug him up straight. “So, what’s this about surprise baby shower?” Tommy asked suspiciously.

“Well, Neil’s bringing the bigger things in a few minutes,” Eber started. “But your mothers basically called us all and made us lists of things you guys need,” he said.

Tommy snorted. “You guys are all great,” he started. “But seriously? Surprise baby show?” he asked skeptically.

“How were we supposed to know you had just got the baby to sleep?” Lisa asked and Monte snickered. “What’s up with you?” she asked and he smirked.

“Never thought I’d see the day TommyJoe was going to bed at seven,” Monte said, shaking his head in amusement.

Tommy flipped him off wordlessly. Adam laughed. “Tommy, stop,” he said, grabbing his hand. “And really, we did spring it on everybody,” he said and Tommy shrugged.

“Whatever, Monte’s just jealous he doesn’t get to go all ‘hey now, I’m a dad, I’m superior’ on me anymore, cause I’m a dad too,” Tommy said smugly.

Adam grinned. “He’s still got four kids to our one,” he said and Tommy waved a hand.

“Technicality.”

“Alright ladies!” Danielle announced as she came from the kitchen. “Foods set up, coffee’s on for these two to wake up and join the rest of us, and we’re ready to get started! Dad’s to the kitchen,” she said and Adam beamed.

“Yay!” he said and Tommy rolled his eyes.

“You like having your parenthood acknowledged way too much,” Tommy accused, only to squeak when Adam tugged him up.

He swatted Tommy on the butt and directed him at the kitchen. “You should rub it in their faces we have a baby and they don’t!” he said and Tommy just laughed, letting Adam march him to the kitchen, only pausing to let Tommy snag Jonah from the grandparents on the way past.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
In the end, they got a car seat, an assload of adorable clothes, some baby toys, and, best of all, a really nice purple and blue stroller. After everybody had gone, Adam sat on the floor holding Jonah as he showed him some toys. “Look, Jonah,” Adam said, rattling a little kitten rattle in front of him. “You see?” he asked, smiling down at him. 

“Adam, he’s barely two weeks old. He can’t really _see_ much yet,” Tommy said, sitting beside him. 

Adam pouted. “Hey, I’m trying, okay? I didn’t read eight hundred baby books,” he said and Tommy smirked.

“I want to be an informed daddy,” he said, leaning over to kiss Jonah’s forehead. “Hey baby,” he said, smiling down at him. “Are you sleepy?” he asked softly, stroking his cheek.

Adam smiled. “I know I am, hopefully he’ll go to sleep soon.” Adam yawned, looking up at Tommy. “You get the baby monitor first,” he said and Tommy scoffed.

“Fuck that, you got it for about three seconds last time, you get it,” he said and Adam pouted.

“Please? You’re an insomniac anyways,” he said and Tommy rolled his eyes.

“No, I want to sleep.”

Adam whined. “I’ll blow you?” he offered and Tommy snorted.

“No thanks,” he said, and Adam looked offended. “Still into chicks, sorry,” Tommy said, laughing as he leaned over to kiss Adam’s cheek. “Come on, I’ll get his bottle and get him to sleep so you can get to bed first in exchange.” 

Adam sighed. “Thank you,” he said and Tommy nodded.

“No problem,” he said, taking Jonah to go get his bottle. “Night, Adam,” he said.

Adam smiled, hugging him. “Goodnight,” he said, then leaned down to kiss Jonah. “Goodnight baby.” He turned and headed upstairs, hoping he got a good few hours of sleep without Jonah waking up.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Awww, look at Daddy’s big boy!” Tommy said, holding Jonah, who was holding his head up, looking around. “You’re such a big boy!” he said, kissing him when he laid his head back down. “Dude, he’s barely two months and he’s already holding his head really well,” Tommy said with a happy smile to Adam.

Adam put down his brush and walked over, kissing Jonah. “You’re the sweetest baby,” he said, stroking his ever-growing hair. “God, he’s so damn _soft_ ,” he said in amazement.

Tommy smiled at the love radiating from Adam’s eyes as he gazed at their son. He knew the feeling well. “Yeah, his hair, his skin, it’s all so smooth,” Tommy said, looking at Jonah. His hair was dark, but not super dark. His eyes were still big and blue, though Tommy knew it could be as much as four more months before his eyes turned colors. “Pretty sure I was bald until I was about two years old,” Tommy joked and Adam laughed.

“I had white hair as a baby. It didn’t turn ginger until I was three or four,” he said, walking away to grab his jacket. “Are we ready? First major trip out with Jonah,” he said and Tommy nodded.

“I think we’re good,” he said, giving Adam a brave look. “Are you gonna bother with the baby harness thingy or are we just gonna carry his car seat?” he asked.  
Adam shrugged. “Well do the car seat carrier because even though he’s lifting his head pretty well, he’d still be so uncomfortable and get so tired trying to hold his head up and look around like you know he does,” he said.

Tommy carried Jonah to the car while Adam carried the diaper bag. It was a neat bag, if Tommy was honest. Sutan had given it to them and it had rhinestones and sparkles all over it in blue and purple. It had Jonah’s initials on the side and little stars all over the pockets on the front. It was big enough to carry all of Jonah’s bottles and diapers and a few toys with ease, which made things so much easier. Tommy was pretty sure it was the best invention every besides the baby rattle, since Jonah’s kitten rattle was about the only thing that would calm him down when he got fussy just to be fussy.

When they got to the car, Tommy carefully climbed into the backseat to put Jonah in his car seat. Two-door cars were not made for babies in car seats but neither of them were really willing to break down and buy a new car. They had plenty of money but really, a car was a big item to buy. Tommy felt somewhat silly sitting in the backseat so that he could watch Jonah, but Adam was too tall to fit, so it wasn’t like he could just drive and let Adam look after Jonah.

It was time for Jonah to get a check-up and a few shots, so it was the first time they had really gone out with him. They had taken him to visit people (see: show off their awesome son), but this time they were going into public. The idea that nobody would spot them was a pipe dream, so they were prepared for the onslaught ahead of time. When they got to the pediatrician’s office, nobody was around. The appointment was for as early as they could get in so that they wouldn’t be spotted by as many people. 

Tommy signed them in and then joined Adam and Jonah in the waiting area. Jonah was looking around when he sat down, then smiled when Tommy smacked a kiss on his face. He made some noises and Adam smiled. “He’s been doing that a lot lately,” he said and Tommy nodded.

“He’s actually smiling now so it’s sorta awesome,” he said, holding out his hand for Jonah to grab onto. Jonah was starting to really realize what his hands did and it was clearly amusing to him when he grabbed onto things. His rattle was his favorite but his fathers hands were pretty fun too, it seemed. Tommy was making faces at Jonah, smiling at the tiny half-giggles Jonah was learning to make, when he heard the nurse call for Lambert.

Adam stood up, shifting Jonah. Tommy carried the bag as they headed back. The old nurse eyed them with a confused look but led them wordlessly to a small room. “Lay him on the scale please,” she said and Adam carefully lay Jonah down on the scale on the table, stepping back so the nurse could write some things down. “Alright, ten pounds and twenty-four inches,” she said, smiling as Jonah kicked as she ticked his tummy. “He’s a big boy,” she said and Adam smiled.

“He’s growing fast alright,” Adam said, smiling when she handed him back. “Hear that? You’re getting so big already,” he said, kissing Jonah’s cheek, fighting a giddy feeling when Jonah smiled at him and giggled some. Tommy smiled at Adam’s happy expression as they were led to a room to wait on the doctor.

“You know, I didn’t really ever doubt you would be a good dad, but I gotta be honest,” Tommy said, leaning against the wall as he watched Adam bouncing Jonah some, watching him smile and giggle. “I’m really, _really_ glad we decided to do this,” he said, and Adam grinned.

“Well duh, our baby is amazing,” he said and Tommy shook his head.

“I mean like, you’re an _amazing_ dad. I’m glad I get to be sure my son has two parents who love him to death. I mean, sure, I guess most parents love their baby to death, but some people just aren’t as natural with it as you. I mean, I know kids always have loved me, but I’m happy Jonah’s got you,” he said and Adam rolled his eyes, though Tommy could see spots of pink on his cheeks since he wasn’t wearing much makeup.

“I wouldn’t have gone through so much trouble for Jonah if I didn’t think I would be the best Dad he can have,” Adam said simply, looking at Jonah lovingly. But I see what you mean,” he said, smiling at Tommy. “I’m really glad I didn’t try this alone now. I could’ve done it but can you imagine having dealt with that first month all by yourself?” he asked.

Tommy groaned. “Fuck no, I feel so bad for single parents now,” he said, chuckling. “I mean, you do what you gotta but man, that would be tough!” He grinned, standing on his toes to look at Jonah over Adam’s shoulder. “Hey!” he said and Jonah’s eyes widened and he drew back some in surprise as Tommy popped over Adam’s shoulder. “Ooh shit, I’m sorry,” he said, laughing s Jonah looked slightly afraid. 

Adam rolled his eyes. “If you had made him cry, I’d seriously have made you get him to stop,” he said, shuffling Jonah to the other arm.

The door opened and the doctor came in. “Hello,” the doctor said as he walked in. He glanced up, then raised an eyebrow at the two men standing there, looking at Jonah. “I’m Dr. Peterson,” he said, looking at the chart. “So, this little thing is Jonah?” he asked.

Adam nodded. “Yes sir, he sure is,” he said, then laid Jonah on the table, letting the doctor step over to the baby. 

“So, you guys are his parents?” he asked, looking at them pointedly.

Adam stilled and Tommy’s eyes sharpened some. “Yes. We are,” Tommy supplied in a voice that made itself clear. The doctor didn’t say anything else, but Tommy could tell he was thinking it. It bugged him but he kept his mouth shut. Adam looked a little unsettled but Tommy stubbornly held his hand the whole time the doctor checked Jonah over, stroking his thumb across Adam’s knuckles soothingly.

“Alright, he seems to be a healthy baby,” the doctor said after giving Jonah a complete checkup. “He’s having two shots today, is that correct?” he asked.

Adam nodded. “Yeah, that’s what he’s due for.” He smiled down at Jonah, cringing. “Poor baby,” he said, leaning over to stroke a finger down Jonah’s cheek. “No clue what’s coming,” he said and the doctor smiled.

“Well he’ll be fine. The nurse will be in momentarily to give him his shots and then you’ll have to wait a few minutes to be sure he doesn’t have any sort of reaction and then I’ll be back in to give you the paperwork to hand the receptionist,” he said, nodding to the both of them before walking out.

When the nurse came in, she was looking at the chart in her hand as she carried a kit. “Alright, who’s Jonah?” she asked, then looked up with a friendly smile, only to blink, eyes widening slightly as she spotted Adam. Tommy bit his lip when she quickly shook herself and returned to full professional mode. “Is that you, little guy?” she asked, placing her kit on the table beside Jonah.

Adam smiled, sharing an amused look with Tommy over her head. “Yeah, this is Jonah,” Tommy said, leaning on the table beside Jonah so he could lean in to kiss his head. “Daddy loves you,” he said to Jonah, who was looking at him, sucking on his fingers absently.

“Is he yours?” she asked Tommy, pulling on her gloves.

Tommy grinned up at Adam, who shot him an amused smile. “He’s both of ours,” he supplied simply, playing with Jonah’s hand.

“Really?” she asked suspiciously, glancing over at Adam surreptitiously, though Tommy caught her. “Alright, Jonah,” she said, taking the cap off one of the preloaded syringes. “Wish I could say you won’t feel a thing, but I’d be lying,” she said, chuckling. “She says as if the baby can understand her,” she joked, then grabbed his leg, swabbing his thigh with alcohol. 

Tommy held Jonas’s hands out of the way, cringing when, just as the nurse poked him, Jonah’s face changed and he started crying. “Aww, I know baby, I know,” he said, kissing his face. “Trust me, Daddy knows about the needles,” he said, holding his little hands.

“Alright, that’s one,” she said over Jonah’s screaming, going to his other leg. Tommy glanced over and saw Adam flinching when Jonah screamed louder at the second injection. “Alright, there we go,” she said, putting a bandage over the injection site. “Aww, I’m sorry buddy,” she said, smiling at Jonah apologetically as he screamed. 

Tommy gave her a gratefully look then picked Jonah up, cuddling him as he cried. “Shhhh, it’s okay, Jonah. You’re alright,” he said, kissing his head. 

The nurse made a note and then pulled a small note from the file, turning to the one not holding a screaming baby. “Here’s a list of common side effects to the injections, just so you don’t freak out if he reacts,” she informed Adam, who took the paper, smiling.

“Thank you so much-“ he glanced at her ID tag and smiled. “Jane,” he said and she nodded.

“Just wait around until the doctor comes back to make sure he’s okay with the vaccines and then you’re good to go,” she said.

Adam nodded. “Thanks,” he said, then turned to accept Jonah from Tommy, who took the paper. Tommy glanced up and noticed the nurse eyeing them as she packed her kit up and then turned to walk out with a smile. He looked over at Adam, biting his lip when he saw Adam’s lips moving next to Jonah’s ear. His cries were quieting down to whimpers and Tommy could just make out a few words of Adam’s whispers.

Tommy finished skimming the side effects and walked over to Adam, who was sitting in the chair in the corner, rocking Jonah and humming to him. “That sorta sucked, huh?” he asked, squatting down so he could check on Jonah. He looked okay, but he was still pouting. “Poor thing, it says the injection sites would be sore for a little while,” he said and Adam cringed.

“It kinda took me by surprise how much I really, really hate when Jonah screams and you know he’s in pain,” he said, rubbing the baby’s back. “I mean, obviously I know he’s gotta have his shots and stuff, but it really sucked a lot to know he was in pain and that I couldn’t help him,” he admitted.

Tommy nodded. “Yeah, I know what you mean,” he said. “Poor little thing. Breaks my heart to hear him crying like that,” he said, leaning in to kiss Jonah softly. “He’s okay though.”

Adam laughed. “Yeah, he’s a tough cookie,” he said, pulling Jonah away some, holding him between his forearms out in front of him. “Aren’t you?” he asked, kissing his face. “Dad’s tough little boy.”

Tommy grinned. “The nurse looked like Christmas had come early,” he said and Adam laughed.

“I should sign something and slip it to her on the way out,” he said and Tommy rolled his eyes.

“She’s probably cursing patient confidentiality right now because it means she can’t text her friends on her break ‘oh my god, Adam Lambert has a baby!’ and have it out from her mouth first,” he teased.

They sat in silence, looking at Jonah for a while before Adam cracked up all of a sudden. “Wonder how soon after we’re found out it is that people start guessing that I knocked you up?” he asked and Tommy rolled his eyes.

“The fans, dude. Science has no purpose to them.” He grinned. “Some will think you knocked me up then turned me into a vampire,” he pointed out.

Adam just laughed. “So Jonah is a baby-vampire?” he asked, earning a laugh.

“Oh God, our fans are so fucked,” he joked, leaning his head against Adam’s shoulder. “I love them,” he said.

Adam nodded. “Oh yeah, the crazies are so fun, no denying it.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tommy carefully unconnected the carrier from the car seat base, then stopped. “Adam, we need to decide right now, do you want to hide his face from the vultures?” he asked, holding up the blanket he would throw over the baby carrier. “I mean… I don’t like the idea of them having stalker shots of our baby’s face, but eventually it’ll happen, so should we bother?” he asked.

Adam cringed. “At least for today. Maybe once it’s out that we’ve got a baby, we can post photos of him ourselves, you know? I’d like to at least have the photos of his face be our own doing,” he said.

Tommy nodded, draping a purple blanket over his carrier after kissing him. “Alright, don’t worry, Daddy’s not going anywhere,” Tommy said, then handed Jonah’s carrier out to Adam before climbing out himself. He grabbed the diaper bag, carrying it while Adam carried Jonah. When they got to the restaurant, the host eyed them curiously but said nothing before leading them to a booth. Tommy slid into the seat and put Jonah and his carrier on the inside, so that he could take the blanket off of him as the back of the seat and his body blocked Jonah from view from anybody who might try and sneak a photo.

“How’s Jonah?” Adam asked, looking over at him.

Tommy smiled. “He looks sleepy,” he said, reaching out to hold Jonah’s hand. “Are you gonna fall asleep, baby?” he asked, chuckling when Jonah started chewing on his thumb. “Why are you gnawing on daddy’s finger?” he asked, trying to pull his hand away. “I doubt daddy’s hands taste very good,” he said, smiling at Jonah, who looked contented. “Hey, hand me his pacifier,” he said, and Adam dug it from the diaper bag. 

Tommy exchanged the pacifier for his finger, then laughed when Jonah didn’t seem to even notice a difference. Adam sighed. “God, he’s so awesome,” he said softly.

Tommy nodded. “He’s such a good baby,” he said, leaning down to kiss Jonah’s head. He heard someone say ‘Adam’ and he glanced behind them, sighing when he spotted a group of people near the window sneaking glances their way. “And we’re spotted,” he said.

Adam hummed. “Oh well, nothing we didn’t expect,” he said, shrugging helplessly.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
What they didn’t expect, however, was that, while walking back to the car, the photographers had arrived. “Fuck,” Adam said, carefully checking that the blanket was over Jonah.

“Adam!”

“Adam over here-“

Tommy grumbled, hefting the bag higher as he ducked closer to Jonah’s carrier in Adam’s hand. “I’ll get the door and jump in and you just hand him to me quickly,” he said and Adam nodded, ducking his head as he held the carrier closer to his body.

“Adam! Whose baby?”

“Adam, can you look this way, please?!”

When the valet pulled up with the car, Tommy darted for the door, climbing into the backseat then leaning out for Jonah. Adam passed him the carrier, then turned back, blocking the window as he faced the paparazzi. “Alright guys, that’s enough for now, I think,” he said, giving them all a pointed look before climbing into the driver’s seat.

“Do you think they could’ve been more annoying?” Adam sighed.

Tommy snorted. “That one guy kept edging closer and closer to my right and if he got any closer, I’d have had a big problem,” he said softly. “Thank God they didn’t wake Jonah.”

“I don’t see how! God, ‘Adam over here’ ‘turn this way Adam’ ‘let me drain the life out of you, Adam’-“ Tommy interrupted his chipmunk voiced mocking with a laugh. “What?! They are! Some of them aren’t bad, some are polite and say ‘please’ and ‘thanks’ and shit and don’t run up and blow off flashbulbs in my face but those assholes were REALLY annoying,” he said pointedly.

Tommy sighed. “Well, Jonah’s still nice and asleep,” he said, looking at the sleeping baby. “He’s the sweetest baby,” he said and Adam smiled at him in the rearview mirror.

“They’re gonna speculate the shit out of this situation now,” Adam said softly.

Tommy shrugged. “We knew it would happen eventually, right?” He shrugged. “I’m ready for it if you are.” Tommy grinned. “Besides, once it’s out, we get to show off our baby!” he said excitedly.

Adam laughed. “You’re just itching to show him off, aren’t you?” he asked.

“Oh yeah.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
By dinner that night, the photos and speculation were everywhere. “Yep, I knew it,” Tommy said, walking over to climb onto the bed beside Adam, who was watching Jonah kick his feet and giggle at them. “I knew it,” he said, holding out his phone. Adam looked over and laughed. “There are people who are claiming you impregnated me and I somehow carried and gave birth to a child,” he said pointedly.

Adam grinned. “You’d be the bitchiest pregnant person ever,” he said, and Tommy glared. “Come on, you know there are crazies,” he said, then scrolled down a few. “Ah, so they found the public records that we’re listed as domestic partners, about time,” he said.

Tommy nodded. “I figured they would’ve found that earlier,” he said, then smiled down at Jonah, who was chewing on his toes. “How does he _do_ that?” he asked in amazement.

Adam laughed. “What, you can’t get your foot to your mouth?” he asked curiously. “I have no desire to chew on my own toes but it’s not hard to get your foot to your mouth.”

Tommy hummed. “I’ve never tried,” he said, then looked at his sock-covered feet curiously.

Adam eyed him curiously. “You’re gonna try, aren’t you?” he asked and Tommy grinned, then grabbed his ankle, tugging it up towards his face, only to squeak when he fell on his back, foot a few inches from his head.

“My jeans won’t let it go any further,” Tommy said, tugging harder, only to frown. “I’ll try later in pajamas,” he said and Adam bit back a laugh.

“Look, even Jonah thinks you’re crazy,” he said, and Tommy sat up, smiling at the way Jonah was looking at him. Adam leaned down and kissed Jonah. “Daddy’s crazy, isn’t he?” he asked, stroking a finger down his cheek.

“Don’t listen to him,” Tommy said, lying on his side beside Jonah, who looked over at him, still gnawing on his toes. “Your dad’s just a big meany,” he teased, tugging Jonah’s foot out of his mouth so he could lean over and kiss his cheek without getting kicked. “He’s a big ol’ meany-pants, yes he is.”

“Hey, don’t tell Jonah I’m mean,” Adam argued, smiling down at Jonah. “Pretty baby,” he cooed, catching his hands, clapping Jonah’s hands together. “Daddy’s silly, I’m not mean. I love you,” he said, leaning down to kiss Jonah again. “My baby,” he said, smiling contentedly. “What’ve you told them so far?” he asked, looking over at Tommy.

Tommy shrugged. “I haven’t said anything yet,” he said, looking up at Adam. “What do you want me to say?” he asked.

Adam shrugged. “Just tell them whatever you want.”

Tommy smirked. “Whatever I want-“

“Within reason,” Adam clarified, earning a pout.

“Aww, that’s no fun! I was gonna say you were abducted by aliens and then had an alien baby,” he said and Adam laughed.

“Just tell them we were ready to start our family together so we adopted Jonah. While you’re at it, add in that I did finish recording, I’m just taking this break while it’s mixed and prepared for release because I don’t want to do a press tour yet since I need to be a good parent,” he instructed.

Tommy rolled his eyes. “That’s no fun. That’s the truth,” he said and Adam laughed.

“Fine, tell them I got abducted by aliens, knocked up with an alien baby, which was born in a matter of a few months, then I hooked up with you to cover it up and we’re raising our alien baby as our own,” he said and Tommy grinned.

“And you aren’t doing press because you’re still trying to fight baby weight!” he said, earning a glare from Adam.

“I am not fat,” he exclaimed, kicking at Tommy, who laughed and rolled until he fell off the bed, landing on the floor with a yelp. “That’s what you get,” Adam said, smirking as Tommy stood up, rubbing his back on the way out. Adam just laughed, shaking his head affectionately. “Your daddy is insane,” he said, looking back at Jonah.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Tommy!” Tommy was jerked from writing and playing by Adam’s shout. “TOMMY COME DOWN HERE!” he cried.

Tommy jumped up and rushed downstairs, worried something happened to Jonah. “Adam?” he called, falling against the wall slightly before catching himself, darting into the living room. “Adam?”

Adam looked up, beaming. “Come here!” he said, waving him over.

Tommy walked over and sighed. “Seriously, I was worried something happened to Jonah,” he said, flopping down on the floor. “What?” he asked.

Adam was smiling about as widely as Tommy had ever seen. “Watch Jonah,” he said, picking him up to lay him on his belly again. “C’mon, show Daddy!” he said, leaning down so he could look at Jonah. Tommy watched as Jonah pushed up on his arms some, like he’d done a few times before, only this time, he rolled himself over onto his back.

Tommy laughed. “Oh wow, that’s so cool!” he said, smiling at the amazed look on Jonah’s face. “Aww, that’s my big man,” he said, reaching out to tickle Jonah, who giggled and squealed a little. He was finally learning how to squeal and it was causing headaches for both of his fathers. “And there goes my ears,” he said, cringing.

Adam groaned. “Now I know why people bitch when I hit high notes in practice without warning,” he said and Tommy snickered.

“Hell yeah, you’ll be warming up then all of a sudden all the windows shatter-“

“They do not,” Adam said, rolling his eyes. “God, our little baby is growing so fast!” he said, leaning down to kiss Jonah’s face. “Sweet baby,” he sighed happily. “God, can you believe he’s four months old?” he asked, shaking his head.

Tommy grinned. “I know. And we still haven’t answered any questions since the time I told them you got me pregnant,” he joked and Adam groaned, mostly because it was true, Tommy had tried to convince twitter that Adam knocked him up and then was forced by Tommy’s mother to ‘make an honest woman out of him’ and do the closest to marrying him he could.

“He’s got another doctor’s appointment soon,” Adam said, making a face. “And I’ve gotta get back to work. They want me to start doing press again. The album won’t be out for a little while so no talk of touring for at least another six months, hopefully longer, but still, they want me doing press,” he said softly.

Tommy grinned. “So I get to be the stay at home daddy,” he joked and Adam grinned.

“Until we tour, then we’ll have to work something out,” he said, looking down at Jonah. “Can we just not tour? I can’t leave my baby,” he said, looking at Jonah lovingly.

Tommy shrugged. “We’ll hire somebody to travel with us. I’m not leaving him at home,” he said, shaking his head. “People may not think tour is the place for a baby, but neither is leaving him at home with somebody not his parents,” he said, shaking his head.

Adam smiled. “I’m sure somebody will come babysit while we’re at sound check and on stage,” he said, leaning over to tickle Jonah, who squealed and giggled, kicking and waving his hands. “We should post some photos of us all,” he said looking up at Tommy.

Tommy raised an eyebrow. “You think so?” he asked.

Adam nodded. “Before long, we’ll have to start actually taking him places and leaving the house and people will see us, right? We may as well get a photo of us all out there before somebody catches a picture of his face without our permission,” he said. “I do not want my baby’s first public photos to be paparazzi shots.”

Tommy nodded. “Okay. We should get Isaac to do some shots,” he said and Adam nodded. “Our family portrait,” he said and Adam smiled delightedly at the words.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
As soon as Isaac walked in he pointed at them both. “First things first, you should’ve hired a pro,” he said and Adam rolled his eyes. 

“Well we could’ve got Lee to do it but we wanted them to be more candid but not really cause we both suck at taking pictures,” Adam argued. “You have a better camera than either of us too,” he added.

Tommy grinned. “Besides, you know you want permission to take photos of this sexy face all day,” he said, striking a dramatically pouty pose for him.

Isaac snorted. “Fine, fine, but no nudity,” he said, pointing at them. “I’ve seen both of you naked, I never want to see it ever again.”

Adam smirked. “You’re just jealous,” he said, winking at him. “Come on, Jonah is likely to barf all over his nice clothes if we don’t hurry,” he said, going to get Jonah off the floor, where he was laying under one of his mobile toys.

Tommy laughed. “Seriously, put him in a junky onesie and he usually doesn’t spit up on it, but as soon as he goes in the nice clothes, it’s spew-city,” he said, smiling when Adam walked back, holding Jonah against his chest.

“Are you gonna cry when he takes your picture?” Adam asked, looking at Jonah, who was eyeing the new person curiously. “Yeah, that’s a face you’re not used to, huh?”

“Hey buddy, are you gonna let me take your picture?” Isaac asked, smiling at Jonah, who just stared at him.

Tommy smiled. “Come on, our clothes won’t last long either, holding Jonah,” Tommy said to Adam, who nodded. 

“Alright, so, we figured we’d just be like… wherever you want us. We just want some pictures of us playing with him and holding him and stuff,” Adam said, smiling at Isaac.

Isaac nodded. “Sweet, how about you two just sit on the couch together holding him?” he asked.

Tommy and Adam sat down and Tommy leaned closer to Adam, smiling when Adam held Jonah on his lap, close to Tommy. Jonah was wearing a cute little striped shirt and over all. Adam wasn’t styled up as usual, just light makeup and a purple tee-shirt and jeans. Tommy was wearing a little more eyeliner and mascara than Adam, but mostly it was out of habit. “Can you even see him and us all in the same photo?” Tommy joked, looking down at Jonah, who was leaning back against his Dad’s side, looking bored as he chewed on the buttons of his overalls.

“Maybe you guys should lean closer together and hold him up?” Isaac asked, backing away slightly.

“Hold on, I’ve got an idea,” Adam said, then picked Jonah up, shifting him long enough to wrap his arm around Tommy’s shoulders, settling Jonah half onto Tommy’s lap. “You hold him and I’ll slump down more,” Adam said, sliding down so he was closer to Tommy’s height. Tommy held Jonah, who turned instead to tug on Tommy’s necklace, trying to get it to his mouth to chew on.

“No, don’t eat that,” Tommy chastised, tugging it away from him, only to cringe at the hurt look Jonah gave him. “Awww, no, don’t-“ Tommy was cut off as Jonah started crying. “Cry,” he sighed.

Adam laughed. “Aww, come on, Jonah, don’t cry,” he said, picking him up. “Don’t cry,” he said, holding him up in the air. He pulled him down then held him back up. “Shhhhhh, don’t cry, baby,” he said and Jonah waved his arms, looking shocked at how high Adam was holding him. “Somebody’s flying,” he teased and Tommy laughed, shifting to his knees so he could lean against Adam, an arm behind his head on the couch and the other on his shoulder to balance as he looked up at Jonah. “Who’s an airplane?” Adam asked, bringing Jonah down before lifting him up again.

Tommy bit back a grin as Jonah squealed, giggling as Adam made him ‘fly’. “God, he’s so cute,” he said, watching Jonah’s blue eyes widen dramatically as Adam brought him back down, holding him against his chest. Tommy leaned his cheek against Adam’s shoulder, watching contentedly as Adam kissed Jonah. Tommy sighed. “I love you, Jonah,” he said, leaning over to kiss Jonah’s forehead. “You’re the best thing ever,” he said softly.

Adam turned and smiled at Tommy. “He really is,” he said and they both turned back to Jonah, who was watching them. Adam glanced up when he heard the click of a camera. “Oh dude, sorry, kinda got lost there,” he said, smiling apologetically to Isaac.

Isaac just shook his head, amused. “Don’t be,” he said, then took the memory card out of his camera. “Here dude,” he said, tossing it to Tommy, since he didn’t have his hands full of Jonah. “You’re welcome,” he said, nodding to them as he walked out. 

Tommy and Adam looked at the memory card, then each other before jumping up excitedly, taking Jonah with them as they ran to Adam’s computer. Once the pictures were loaded, they both ‘oooh’d and ‘ahhhh’d over them for a while before they began to argue which was best. 

They finally settled on one with Jonah sitting in Adam’s lap while Adam smiled down at him and Tommy’s chin rested on Adam’s shoulder, watching Jonah happily. Jonah was wide eyed and looked happy as he tugged on his dad’s shirt. Adam tweeted it with the message “Me, @TommyJoeRatliff, and our son Jonah Alexander Lambert” while Tommy retweeted it with the added message “<3 my family”. It took _seconds_ before the replies started pouring in.

Adam just sighed. “Jonah, you will be the most famous baby ever,” he teased, kissing him.

Tommy just laughed. “I think the most famous baby ever has a dirty diaper,” he announced, earning a laugh from Adam as he shook his head.

“Well at least he waited until Isaac was done,” he said, taking Jonah to go change his diaper.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When Adam started doing press, it was hard to say goodbye to Jonah and Tommy, but it was nice to get back to work. The management threw him straight to television and he was scheduled on a chat show with a few ladies hosting it. “And welcome our next guest, Grammy Nominated recording artist Adam Lambert!”

Adam walked out, waving to the studio audience as he got cheers, blowing kisses to a few of the women up front. He took his seat and smiled as he shook hands with each of the ladies. “Hi,” he said, hugging the one sitting nearest him.

“So, Adam, it’s been a while,” one said and he laughed.

“Yeah it has. I think last time I was here, I was promoting my tour,” he said, nodding.

“A lot has changed since then, hasn’t it?” another asked and he gave a bright smile.

“You could say as much,” he teased, then laughed. “No, a lot’s happened in the last year, definitely.”

Everybody around the table chuckled and one leaned forward. “So, first things first, the biggest news and rumors going around the last few months, you’re married and have a baby!” she said incredulously.

Adam smiled innocently. “Well, I’m not married, at least we don’t consider it that way,” he started, holding out a hand.

“But you and your partner do have a baby,” she pointed out. 

Adam nodded. “Yes. It came out a few months back that we’ve got a baby-“

“That’s not all that’s come out,” she said, earning laughs.

Adam giggled. “No, that’s true. Tommy and I have been together a lot longer than we let on,” he said, trying to keep his story straight. “Tommy just wasn’t ready to have all of the people back home know about us and honestly it was a lot easier to just pretend we were only friends rather than get stalked for being boyfriends, you know? They care so much less about my friends than they do my dates, sadly.”

“So, you and your boyfriend, within the last six months, became partners and then became parents, am I correct?” she asked, eyebrows raised.

Adam nodded. “Yeah but the becoming domestic partners part was really just for our child. We don’t much care about the whole thing, I mean it’s not marriage,” Adam said, shrugging. “I don’t think anybody in our families considers us married. We didn’t have some commitment ceremony, we just signed some forms and mailed them in then got a paper saying ‘congratulations, you can now file joint taxes’, you know?” he said, and everybody laughed.

“So, you got that out of the way for your child?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he started. “We wanted to be sure that legally we were next of kin and make sure that legally we had all the legal rights of spouses because if anything happened to me, though I know my family would let him make all the decisions, there’s no telling what would happen to my things and my money and my house… all of that stuff was legally just mine and any decisions to be made for me medically or anything wouldn’t be up to him, and we’ve got a baby! God forbid anything happens to either of us, but if it _does_ , we didn’t want any doubts that the remaining father and child would be okay,” he explained.

She smiled. “That’s good thinking. So! The big part of this-“ she waved to the screen behind them and Adam beamed as the photo he and Tommy had posted of the three of them popped up. “You’ve got a son!” she said.

Adam sighed, biting his lip as he looked at the photo. “Yeah, we got spotted with a baby carrier and stuff when he was only two months old, but we managed to wait until we would have to take him into public again and decided we would rather his face be on the internet because we put it there than because some jerk snapped a photo of our son,” he said, grinning. “He’s five month’s hold now.”

“Awww, he’s so cute. What’s his name?” she asked.

“Jonah,” he supplied. “Jonah Alexander Lambert,” he completed.

Another host turned to him. “Now is he from a surrogate or did you adopt him?” she asked.

“Adopted,” he replied. “We adopted him as a newborn,” he said, smiling. “We got to see him just after he was born and bring him home from the hospital and everything, but he is adopted.”

“What made you choose to adopt a newborn rather than use a surrogate?” she asked. 

Adam hummed. “Well, though my best friend offered to be a surrogate, I didn’t ever really consider it,” he said honestly. “I mean, it’s wonderful of her to offer, but there’s enough kids out there that need families, why make a new one when I could get a pre-made one?” he asked, giggling. “And I didn’t really specifically want a newborn. I tried for a long time to adopt a child and a few of the attempts got really close, one of them was a toddler, and others were going to be newborn adoptions, and I think the oldest was six, but for different reasons, it took me a long time to get a chance that didn’t fall through,” he said. “Jonah was the third time I was right there, ready to sign the final papers and for different reasons I lost my chance,” he explained. 

“Awww, I’m glad you got him,” she said and Adam smiled brightly.

“We are too. We got called by my agent, the mother didn’t want any contact with the adopting parents but we were allowed to wait at the hospital for the birth and about fifteen minutes after he was born, we were informed we had a son and we signed the primary custody papers and then we got to go into the nursery and hold him and feed him-“ he shook his head. “The second I saw my baby, I was so in love with him it’s insane. We both cried when we saw him,” he said without shame. 

“Now, you’re a young guy,” she started. “You’re only thirty, right?”

Adam nodded. “I was a few weeks from thirty when Jonah was born, but I’ve always wanted to be a dad. When I was little I used to want to grow up and have children, then I realized I’m gay, so I put it off. I think I always thought I’d still adopt some day, but for a while I was young and having run and I didn’t care about a family, right? Then I had all of this happen-“ he waved his hands around, earning laughs. “And I kind of figured it was okay to wait, but the last few years all of my friends seem to be going baby crazy and having kids and I just wanted it so much. I wanted to be a dad so terribly that I figured it was the right time, and when Tommy and I adopted Jonah, it’s a really busy time in our lives, but we knew we were right. We love our son more than anything else,” he said earnestly.

She sighed, smiling. “You must miss them a lot.”

Adam laughed, groaning dramatically. “God, so much,” he said, then waved at the camera. “Hi Jonah, Dad misses you!” he said, blowing a kiss at it, earning laughter throughout the studio.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tommy beamed, bouncing happily as his mom sat on the floor in front of Jonah, who was sitting up all by himself. “See! I told you he was starting to sit up!” he said, biting his lip as he moved to the floor, lying down beside Jonah. “I told you and you didn’t believe me.”

“Well, you didn’t sit up until you were another month older. He’s only five, you were six,” she said pointedly. “I guess Jonah’s just smarter than you and your sister were. She was seven months old before she could sit up all the way by herself for any amount of time.”

Tommy just beamed. “I gotta get a picture,” he said, giggling as he dug around his pocket, coming back with his phone. He turned it to Jonah and laughed when Jonah turned towards him, sitting up and chewing on his rattle as Tommy snapped a picture. “God, you are beautiful, little man,” he said, shaking his head. “Your dad will never believe you’re sitting up,” he said, shaking his head as he started to text Adam. “I told him you were eating baby cereal with your formula already and he was so excited,” he said, then glanced up, blushing when his mom gave him an amused look.

“You talk to him like this all the time?” she asked. “He can’t understand half the things you’re saying, Tommy.”

Tommy shushed her. “I’m here with my baby by myself, it’s better I talk to him than myself,” he said, then looked over at Jonah, who rolled onto his back with a small thump, tugging his foot up to start gnawing on his toes. “I can’t wait until Adam gets to come home soon. Jonah’s so close to talking and he’s started teething and I really don’t want Adam to not be here when he finally gets out a word or gets his first tooth,” he softly.

Dia smiled. “Aww, I’m sure he’ll be home soon, sweetie. How many more weeks does he have?” she asked.

Tommy groaned. “A lot, but we’re hoping he’ll be back for two weeks soon. They’re talking about putting off a few of the appearances and waiting until closer to the album release date, so all the time they took off for those will be skipped and he can come home for a little while.”

“Has Jonah got to see him at all? I mean, do you show him any videos?” he asked.

Tommy smiled bashfully. “We watch his TV interviews together. We curl up on the couch to see Dad, don’t we, Jonah?” he asked, grinning as he crawled closer, tugging Jonah’s foot out of his mouth. “MMM those toes sure seem yummy,” he said and Jonah giggled as Tommy started pretending to eat his foot. “Daddy want’s some yummy toes too!” he said, beaming when Jonah squealed, kicking and giggling at Tommy’s actions. Tommy leaned down and pushed his shirt up, blowing on his tummy, earning more squeals and kicking and giggling. “Daddy’s gonna eat you!” he said in a growly voice, blowing another raspberry on Jonah’s little belly.

Dia just shook her head. “I never really figured when you were younger you would ever be such a great parent, TommyJoe,” she said, reaching out to push his hair out of his eyes. “Your dad and I used to worry you’d never grow up,” she added.

Tommy rolled his eyes. “I’m not gonna grow up,” he teased, then smiled. “I didn’t plan on being a dad this soon, but I am really glad Adam asked me to do this with him. I love this. I really do. I never thought I’d love anything the way I do just hanging out with Jonah,” he said, laying his head down on his arm, looking over at Jonah, smiling. “I mean, I knew I’d love him, he’s my baby, but it’s _so_ much fun playing with him and stuff. And even the simple things like feeding him and rocking him to sleep, it’s so calming and honestly, even when he’s crying and screaming, it’s annoying, but it’s nothing like you hear. I mean, you hear about people snapping and going crazy over it, but even when he screams all night, it sucks, but it’s not _impossible_ you know?” he said.

She laughed. “With your sister, I cried right along with her most nights but by the time I had you I was more prepared for the sleepless nights and screaming,” she pointed out. “And you’re a man, that’s what gets me the most.”

Tommy shot her a look. “Sexist,” he pointed out, then rolled his eyes. “I’m older than you were too. I also don’t have to be at work in the morning in spite of a screaming baby,” he added. “If I had to go and work all day and never got to sleep, I probably would cry too. And being a man doesn’t make me less of a parent. A mom isn’t always the pinnacle of baby-care. Adam’s not quite as much of a natural as I am with Jonah, but he’s amazing with him. I mean, for as big of a social person he is, he’s so devoted to being a dad he didn’t go to a single friend’s event all along before he had to start working again.”

She nodded. “No doubting you guys are great with him. You’re a great little family,” she said, and Tommy smiled. “How’s the whole best friends raising a baby thing going?” she asked.

Tommy shrugged. “It’s pretty cool really. I mean, I doubt this far it’s much different from a couple. I really doubt any couple with a new baby has time for much sex, and honestly, other than that and the whole love shit, marriage with a baby involved isn’t much different than best friends who have a baby involved,” he said, shrugging.

She laughed. “I guess it’s close enough. I just worry things might get complicated once you’ve gotten over the novelty of having a child and start wanting to out again. I’d hate for you guys to have public drama when one of you gets caught dating somebody else,” she pointed out.

“Adam and I don’t really intend to,” Tommy pointed out. “I mean, that was a bit of a tough decision, basically swearing myself away to celibacy, but we wanted Jonah so we decided this was the better choice. And like we said when we agreed to it, we’ve both had ten good years partying and being young guys and shit. And yeah, Adam’s just been ‘famous’ a few years, but we’re thirty and we wanted our family now. You have to make sacrifices, you know?” He smiled down at Jonah. “And nothing’s too big to sacrifice for my little man,” he said, reaching out to stroke his hair gently. “Adam told me when we were first deciding that he would give his voice for a baby,” he admitted, looking up at the surprised look on his mother’s face. “That’s how much he wanted this. Now that we have Jonah… I know he would. If he could only have one, he would give it all for Jonah. Everything. Jonah is our world now,” he said, smiling at the baby. “I honestly don’t think anybody could love anything more than we love our son.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Adam was sitting backstage for a TV spot, waiting on the makeup lady and Lane to get back from going to find something that better matched the outfit they had for him to wear when his phone buzzed. 

He picked it up off the counter and looked to see that Tommy had texted him. _Check the awesome stuff me and Jonah bought today at my twitter! <3 TJR_ Adam smiled and went to twitter quickly, knowing Tommy had probably bought tons of cute things for Jonah. The first tweet in the sequence read:

 _Teaching the alphabet early, rock-n-roll style!_ Adam clicked and opened the link, rolling his eyes when he saw Tommy holding Jonah, both of them smiling, showing off Jonah’s little shirt that read ‘M is for Metal’. The next one made Adam laugh out loud as he opened the one with the caption _I’ve got a smart kid!_ and he was wearing a onesie that read ‘My Daddy Rocks’. In the photo Tommy had wet Jonah’s hair and had it standing on end and had Jonah’s fingers positioned in metal horns.

The last one, however, hit Adam in a way he didn’t expect. The tweet read _We miss you @adamlambert! <3_ and, upon clicking the link, he found a photo of Tommy holding Jonah in his lap, helping Jonah wave at the camera while wearing a onesie that read ‘My Dad is Rad’.

Adam was more surprised an anything when he felt his throat closing up and tears stinging his eyes. He looked at Jonah and Tommy and couldn’t help but begin to cry. He hadn’t prepared himself at all for such a strong wave of emotions, so he was pretty much unable to stop the tears that spilled down his cheeks. He put a shaky hand over his mouth and just looked at the picture, sitting back in his seat weakly.

He was still crying silently when the door opened. “Alright, we’re good now-“ He looked up and Lane stopped. “Adam?” she asked, eyes widening. “Are you alright? Is something wrong?” she asked quickly.

Adam sniffled and shook his head, wiping at his eyes quickly. “Guh, I’m fine. Nothing’s wrong,” he said, shaking his head. “Fuck, I’m just… a big girl,” he said, smiling wetly at the makeup lady, who was watching curiously.

“What happened?” Lane asked, walking over to sit beside him.

Adam groaned, rolling his eyes. “I just want to go home. I cannot wait to get back,” he said, showing her the picture of Tommy and Jonah. 

She laughed. “Aww, ‘my dad is rad’, that’s so cute,” she said, then looked up. “Dude, it made you _cry_?” she asked.

Adam laughed. “Don’t judge me, I miss my family okay?” he said, rolling his eyes. “I haven’t seen my son in almost a month, technically that’s nearly a fifth of his life,” he pointed out. He sighed, shaking himself. “Alright, I gotta get myself straight,” he said, taking a deep, calming breath. “Two more days and I get to go home. The sooner I get through with this, the better,” he said firmly.

Lane nodded. “That’s the spirit. Two more days and then you go home for two weeks, see your family, then you only have to do a few more weeks of this stuff before a break while the label sorts out the tour,” she said and Adam nodded, sighing.

“Gotta get done and go home. This and then two more days and then I get to go home and be with family. Home, home, home,” he said to himself, standing to jump in place, shaking it off. “Home.”

“Good boy,” Lane teased and Adam laughed, shaking his head as he walked over to the makeup girl, who looked fairly amused.

“Alright, let’s do this.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tommy had on a hoodie and sunglasses so nobody recognized him as he and Jonah waited at the airport for Adam. Leila had offered to pick Adam up, but Tommy wanted to be there with Jonah to greet Adam when he got home. He knew Adam missed Jonah and he wanted to surprise him by being the first familiar face he saw.

Tommy smiled, tugging Jonah’s hat back down as he pushed it off his forehead some. It wasn’t cold, it was sunny beginning of July weather, but it was still early in the morning so the cool breeze wasn’t the best for Jonah’s little ears. “Stop Jonah, you’ll get sick,” he said, kissing his cheek as he tugged the cute little beanie down on his head further. He heard a flight announced and lifted his head, checking the display board. “Jonah, that’s your dad’s plane,” he said, smiling. “He’ll be here in just a few minutes, aren’t you excited to see Dad?” he asked, smiling at Jonah who babbled, gesturing at something. “God, you’re so close to talking, aren’t you son?” he asked, looking up to glance around.

It was only a short wait before the Tommy looked up and spotted Adam and Lane walking through the busy terminal, looking completely exhausted. “Look, it’s Dad!” he said, standing quickly. He had the bag on one shoulder and Jonah on his other hip, but it didn’t stop him from darting through the people in the crowd, shouting when he got close enough. “Adam!”

Adam looked up, looking apprehensive, only to stop and gape when he spotted Tommy rushing over. He positively beamed when they got closer. “Hey!” he said happily, rushing up to meet them. “God, you guys!” he said, wrapping his arms around Tommy, catching Jonah between them. “Holy shit, I’ve missed you two,” he groaned, then looked down at Jonah, who was somewhat smushed between his fathers. “Hey Jonah!” he said, taking him from Tommy eagerly, cuddling him close. “God, look at you! You’ve got so much bigger,” he said, holding him up, smiling brightly. “I love you, Jonah,” he said, kissing his face. “I love you so much,” he said, cuddling him close to his chest, closing his eyes as he kissed his head. “Missed you,” he said, then looked down smiling. “I missed you too,” he told Tommy, who laughed.

“Fuck yeah you did, nobody else will put up with your lame ass and not get bitchy,” he said, tucking himself into Adam’s side, smiling at Jonah. “We missed you, too.”

Adam groaned. “I missed you guys so much. Your damn photos of Jonah’s new clothes made me _cry_ I missed you guys so much,” he pointed out.

Tommy just smirked. “My evil plans are working,” he said playfully, then grinned, standing on his toes to smack a kiss to Adam’s cheek. “Come on, let’s go home,” he said warmly.

Adam smiled and shifted Jonah to his hip, carrying him as they walked out, refusing to give him back to Tommy when he held out his arms. “No way, you had him for a long time, my turn now.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Adam beamed, watching as Jonah sat playing with a toy dog. He squealed and babbled, bashing it against the floor in front of him, giggling. “He’s developed so much,” he said in amazement. “He couldn’t even sit more than a second or two when I left,” he said, leaning over to kiss him.

Tommy nodded. “My mom says they grow and develop the fastest the first year. He’s started teething and he’s eating baby cereal mixed with his formula but my mom says we should probably start giving him baby food soon. We probably should’ve already given him baby food but I just wasn’t sure, you know? I mean, most of my experience with kids has been limited to newborns and toddlers. This in between stage is kinda new,” he said.

Adam nodded. “We should buy a high chair right?” he asked.

Tommy nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been feeding him in my lap so far. He seems more hungry than usual lately so I guess baby food is a must now. And, you know, if he’s teething already, it’s definitely time,” he said simply.

Adam watched him babbling as he smashed the dog into the floor and laughed. “Has he said a word yet?” he asked.

Tommy shook his head. “Not that I can tell. He sounds like he MIGHT be saying something like ‘baba’ but it’s never when I’ve got his bottle so I don’t know if he’s trying to say bottle or if he’s just making noises.”

Adam smiled, leaning over on his elbows in front of Jonah, looking at his thick, dark hair and big blue eyes. “Hey pretty,” he said, reaching out to pick at his hair playfully. “Can you say ‘daddy’?” he asked, smiling.

Jonah looked up and held out his stuffed dog, babbling mindlessly. He fell over on his hands and lunged forward, reaching out towards Adam. Tommy laughed. “You’re gonna crawl soon, aren’t you?” he asked, smiling. “He keeps looking like he’s gonna get on his knees and crawl but he never does. He starts and then falls on his tummy and scoots.”

Adam smiled. “He’s my big boy,” he said, picking Jonah up. He fell onto his back and held Jonah up in the air above himself. “Aren’t you my big boy?” he asked, making Jonah squeal as he waved him around like he was flying. “Are you, Dad’s big boy?” he asked, waving him around.

Jonah squealed and giggled, waving his hands around. Tommy and Adam were both smiling at him, but Tommy froze when he heard Jonah’s ‘babbling’ sound out what definitely stood out.

“ADA!” Jonah said, laughing. “Dadadadadada.”

Adam froze and Tommy gaped. “I think he’s trying to say ‘dada’,” Tommy said and Adam beamed, holding Jonah down closer to himself. “Jonah, can you say ‘dada’?” Tommy asked, leaning down to look at him. “Dada?” he tried.

Jonah looked at him and smiled. “Da!”

Tommy grinned. “Where’s ‘da’?” he asked, smiling. “Can you say it, Jonah?”

Adam brought him down, holding him on his chest, looking at his face. “Jonah, can you say dada?” he tried, rubbing a hand over his head.

Jonah laid his head down, fisting his hand in Adam’s shirt. “Dadadada,” he said, and Adam laughed happily.

“Tommy, I don’t know if he really gets it yet, but he’s totally saying ‘dada’!” he said and Tommy beamed, reaching over to place his hand on Jonah’s back. Adam smiled. “Jonah, can you say ‘daddy’?” he asked again, sitting up to look down at Jonah.

Jonah didn’t seem interested in talking anymore so they let him be, watching as he sat playing with his toy dog still. Tommy smiled, leaning onto Adam’s side. “It’s good to have you home. Jonah would get so excited every time we saw videos of you or saw you on TV,” he said, closing his eyes as he leaned into Adam’s shoulder.

Adam smiled, curling his arm around Tommy. “I’m glad to be home. I’ve missed you guys so much. I didn’t know how hard it would be.” He sighed. “I’m only home for two weeks then I’ve got three more before I get home for a while,” he said.

Tommy shrugged. “It’s okay. I just hope you don’t miss anything big with Jonah. He could start walking while you’re gone and that would suck for you to miss,” he said.

Adam sighed. “Yeah, it would, but good news is, I’m talking soon about hiring a nanny for tour. The album comes out in November and they want us to start tour in February. He’ll be one by then, so he’ll be a little easier to handle, but I am not leaving him home for a whole tour. If you were staying home it would be one thing, but I’m not leaving my son behind.”

Tommy bit his lip. “I’ve been thinking… if we can’t handle a nanny on tour, I might just pass up on tour,” he said and Adam frowned. “If it comes down to leaving Jonah home, I can just stay with him. You can get a new bassist.”

Adam rolled his eyes. “Tommy, I’m not getting a new bassist-“

“Better that than Jonah being left home without me,” he countered.

“Well, good thing I’m going to get us a nanny to travel because I am not facing the drama of getting a new bassist,” he said, then smiled. “Besides, I want you guys with me,” he said, bumping his shoulder into Tommy’s.

“I know,” Tommy said, sighing as he leaned into Adam. “I just want you to know it’s an option, in case you need me too.”

Adam smiled and kissed the top of his head. “Thanks for the offer but I think I’ll take you both with me instead.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When Adam woke up, he heard music. He looked at the clock and saw it was only eight, way earlier than he expected Tommy to be up since Jonah had started sleeping all night long. He got up and headed across the hall, only to pause at the door into Jonah’s nursery. He put a hand over his mouth, fighting back any sound as he took in the sight before him.

Jonah was curled up on a blanket Tommy had clearly laid out on the floor, blinking sleepily at Tommy, who was sitting with his legs crossed, playing his guitar softly. Adam could hear him singing softly but couldn’t tell what it was he was singing. He softly tiptoed away from the door and padded to his room, snagging his phone before going back. He made sure not to make any noise as he approached the door again, camera recording video on his phone. He smiled as he recorded Tommy singing to Jonah, playing for his acoustic guitar so softly it was barely audible. Adam was once again struck by a warm, happy feeling as he watched Tommy and their son interacting. Nothing was more amazing to him than Jonah except maybe how beautiful Jonah and Tommy’s interactions were. The dim sunlight filtering through the window blinds opposite the door filtered through Tommy’s bangs, casting a shadow on his face, but highlighted Jonah’s face, making his baby smooth skin practically glow.

Adam was so caught up watching them that he didn’t realize Tommy was watching him back until he glanced down to at the screen on his phone to see how it looked on there. He spotted two brown eyes staring back and he looked up, smiling at Tommy who had quit singing, though he was still playing softly. Tommy glanced back at Jonah, letting out a soft sigh as he realized Jonah was asleep. He kept playing for a few more minutes but Adam pocketed his phone, ignoring the way it tugged his loose pajamas down a little lower on his hips.

When Tommy finally stopped, he stood up, laying his guitar aside, before carefully scooping Jonah up and depositing him in his crib. He smiled at Jonah for a moment before turning to grab his guitar then walk to the doorway, smiling tiredly at Adam. “Teething,” he said simply.

Adam cringed. “You could’ve given me the baby monitor, I think you’ve done enough nights all alone the month I was gone,” he said, shutting the nursery door behind Tommy carefully.

Tommy yawned. “You’ve been working your ass off. You deserved a little sleep,” he said, then grinned. “I was planning on giving you angry Jonah duty tonight,” he said as they walked downstairs together.

Adam laughed. “Gee thanks,” he teased, then smiled sadly when he spotted the episode of MASH on the television and realized Tommy must’ve been up a while. “Did you sleep much?” he asked, sitting down beside Tommy, who had laid his guitar against the chair then flopped down on the couch.

Tommy sighed, sinking some. “I seem to be tired when Jonah’s not and awake when Jonah’s asleep,” he admitted. “I’m really tired but my brain is just… not letting me sleep.”

Adam pouted. “Aww, come here,” he said, holding out an arm. Tommy gave him an amused look but complied, scooting over to curl up against Adam, tucked into his side, head laying on his shoulder.

“I really doubt you can shut off my brain, no matter how epic you are, Adam,” he said affectionately.

Adam shrugged. “I can try,” he said, then laid back, taking Tommy with him. Tommy shifted some, sighing finally as he lay mostly on top of Adam, head turned into his neck.

“Am I squishing you?” he asked, voice muffled by Adam’s shirt.

“No, it’s fine,” Adam said, looping his arms around Tommy, one hand settling in his hair, the other on his back. “Close your eyes,” he said and Tommy made a snorted laugh sound but didn’t argue. When Adam started humming, Tommy grinned.

“I really doubt singing will put me to sleep,” he said but Adam ignored him, continuing to hum as he rubbed at Tommy’s scalp with his fingertips, the other hand firm on his back as he held him close.

Adam smiled in amusement when not even ten minutes later, Tommy was breathing deeply and evenly on his chest. He pressed a kiss to Tommy’s hair and closed his own eyes, letting the warm weight on top of him lull him back to sleep as well.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Adam did not expect to wake up to see his mother standing over him. “AH!” he cried out, sitting up slightly, only to find himself hindered by a weight on his chest.

“Nnnng, Adam, stop,” Tommy whined, shoving a hand at his face sleepily. “No,” he whined, snuggling closer into Adam’s arms.

Adam groaned. “Mom, how are you in my house?” he asked, then looked down. “Tommy, why’s my mom in the house?” he asked, shoving at Tommy’s hair, trying to see his face.

Tommy yawned and shifted, lifting his head some before smiling at Leila. “Hey,” he said, then yawned again, sitting up slightly, knees on either side of Adam. “What time is it?” he asked, stretching.

Adam snickered. “Never expected to be talking to my mom while a boy sat on my lap,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows at Tommy.

Tommy laughed, taking in the way he was straddling Adam with Leila standing beside them. “Jackass,” he said, leaning over to smack a kiss to Adam’s forehead before climbing off of him. “Fuck, I hope Jonah hasn’t woke up and I didn’t hear.”

“I went to check on him when I saw you guys asleep,” she said. “He’s sitting in his crib just playing with his stuffed dog. I figured I’d leave him there while I woke you two up.”

“And how did you get in?” Adam asked curiously.

Tommy smiled. “I gave her a key. Just in case of emergencies. She has one and my mom has one. I didn’t want to like… fall and break my leg and not be able to call somebody to come take care of Jonah or something,” he said, shrugging.

Adam smiled. “Paranoid much?”

“Daddy here, I’m allowed,” Tommy said, then poked his side. “Get up, mister,” he said and Adam giggled, cringing away.

“Stop, tickles,” he whined.

Tommy smiled. “I’m gonna go get Jonah. He needs some breakfast. I think I might chop up the mango in the kitchen and blend it up and see if he wants to eat that. New food for breakfast!” he said, looking somewhat excited.

Adam laughed. “Good luck, I’ll be sure to laugh when you have mango in your hair,” he joked, then yawned, stretching. “Hey, Mom.”

Leila smirked, leaning over the back of the couch. “Hey yourself, kid,” she said, then bit her lip. “Any specific reason you and your not-boyfriend were all cuddled up asleep together?” she asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

Adam rolled his eyes. “Tommy couldn’t sleep. I sang to him and it seems we both fell asleep instead,” he said, shrugging. He groaned as he stretched and his back popped. “I’m too young to have a sore back from sleeping on the couch,” he whined. “Although, hundred and fifty pounds of boy on top of me probably didn’t help.”

“Glad to be home?” she asked and Adam sighed. 

“So glad. I don’t want to go back now. I think I should just retire now and call it a good run, live the rest of my days with my family,” he joked and Leila laughed.

“Aww, I can’t imagine it, going without seeing Jonah for so long,” she said, then patted his arm. “But you’ll be able to take him with you guys on tour, so that’s good.”

Adam nodded. “Damn straight. Tommy offered to quit the band and stay home with Jonah, but that puts me through the drama of replacing him, the fans missing him, and I still wouldn’t get to see my son for a long time. I’ll get a lot of shit for taking a baby on tour, but if I hire a nanny to travel with us, I know Jonah will be okay. The critics will say I’m a horrible parent and shit like that, but as long as _i_ know he’s safe and well cared for, that’s better than leaving him at home,” he said, shaking his head. “I know you or Dia would keep him for us but I cannot leave him home for so long. I mean, look at this! I’ve been gone a month and he’s already sitting up and trying to crawl and nearly saying words and he’s teething… I miss a month and it’s like my little baby’s growing up without me there,” he said, waving a hand.

Leila smiled. “Well they grow up fast alright. No stopping that. Hell, you’re thirty and I still keep wondering where my chubby little ginger went while I blinked for two seconds,” she said and Adam smiled, rolling his eyes.

“Hey Adam,” Tommy called, coming into the room with Jonah on his hip. “If all else fails, we can bring Neil along to be babysitter,” he teased and Adam barked out a laugh.

“I wouldn’t trust my brother with my luggage, you think I’d give him my son?!” Adam asked, snickering. “Although, we should at least leave him with him one night while we’re on stage and see how he handles changing a diaper or two,” he joked.

Tommy laughed. “Oh God, we’d come back and find him like… sitting in a corner rocking back and forth after Jonah killed his sanity,” he teased. He hefted Jonah and smiled. “You wanna drive your Uncle Neil insane?” he asked, kissing him. “Yep, Daddy loves making Uncle Neil cry, you should too!” he cooed, walking out again.

Adam just smiled lovingly at the two of them as they walked out. Leila rolled her eyes, ruffling his hair. “Seriously never thought I’d see you this happy,” she said, leaning over to smack a kiss to the top of his head. “I’m so proud of you,” she added, catching Adam off guard, though she said nothing else before walking out to join Tommy and Jonah in the kitchen. Adam couldn’t help his throat tightening slightly as he thought about how lucky he really was.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Adam cried when he had to leave. He knew it was stupid, he’d left before without a problem, but this time, Jonah seemed to understand he was leaving. It broke his heart when he had to walk away from Jonah when he was crying and holding his arms out for him. “DADA!” he squealed, waving his arms as he reached towards Adam’s retreating back. Even without looking back, Adam could _see_ his baby calling for him as he walked away. Lane didn’t even judge Adam as they climbed into the car and he spent half the ride to the airport wiping tears off his face.

People asking questions about Jonah and Tommy bothered him after a while. He expected the initial ‘congratulations on your new baby!’ but when they started asking personal questions about his and Tommy’s relationship and about their parenting experience, he started to get a little uneasy with them. However, he sucked it up and made it through the press tour without a breakdown.

This time when he got home, nobody met him at the airport since his flight came in late at night. When he got home, he went immediately to Jonah’s room only to freak out a little when Jonah wasn’t in his crib. He rushed to Tommy’s room, worried about them, only to feel his heart swell when he found Tommy and Jonah both asleep in Tommy’s bed. Jonah was asleep on Tommy’s chest and Tommy was asleep with one hand beneath his head, the other laying across Jonah’s back. Adam simply stripped out of his boots and jeans and slid into bed with them in his shirt and boxers, not even bothering to get ready for bed. Neither woke. Adam laid on his side watching them until he fell asleep himself, his hand curled over Tommy’s on Jonah’s back.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When Tommy woke up, he was confused by the weight on his chest for a minute until he remembered Jonah had been fussy and he’d gotten him and laid in bed with him. He opened his eyes and smiled at his son’s dark hair in his face. He started to move his hand, however, and was surprised to find another hand holding it down. His eyes shot open and he lifted his head, looking past Jonah’s hair only to smile when he realized Adam was asleep next to him and it was Adam’s hand over his. He bit his lip when Adam moved some, shuffling closer until his head was on Tommy’s shoulder and his hand had slid from Jonah’s back so he could curl his arm around both Jonah and Tommy. Tommy just turned and pressed a kiss to Adam’s hair, then pressed a kiss to Jonah’s and went back to sleep.

The second time he woke up, it was to Jonah whining as he woke up. He felt Adam stirring beside him and he smiled sleepily when a pair of sleepy gray eyes blinked open beside him. “Hey,” Tommy whispered and Adam lifted his eyes to meet Tommy’s.

Adam smiled a small smile as he shuffled back some, freeing Tommy’s arm. “Hey yourself,” he said, yawning as he stretched his arms up. He sat up on his elbows and smiled at Jonah, who was still in the process of waking up. “Jonah? Jonah it’s daddy,” he said, reaching out to stroke his hair back.

Tommy smiled. “He won’t pay attention until he’s really awake. He’s a lazy baby,” Tommy said, rubbing Jonah’s back.

Adam grinned. “He gets is from his daddy,” he said, sitting up all the way. “I’ll go start getting him something for breakfast-“

“Adam, no,” Tommy said, carefully holding Jonah as he sat up so he didn’t tumble off his chest. “You got back way late, you lie back down and get some more sleep,” he instructed.

Adam smiled gratefully. “Thanks TommyJoe, but I really need to get up and get a shower and stuff since I’m awake. Maybe this afternoon I’ll take a nap or something to make up for it,” he said.

Tommy chuckled, shaking his head. “Alright,” he said, then smiled down at Jonah, who was rubbing his face into his shirt. “Well I’m gonna go feed this little monkey,” he said and Adam beamed.

“I’ve missed you guys so much,” he said and Tommy grinned, leaning over to kiss Adam’s cheek. 

“We missed you too.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Adam grinned as he sat, watching Jonah carefully easing along, holding onto the couch as he cruised along towards Tommy, who was sitting on the other end. “He’s getting so good at that,” he said, flopping down beside Tommy, who grinned.

“He’s seriously awesome,” he said, clapping for Jonah when he got to his knees, tugging on his jeans.

“Dadadadadadadada!” he babbled, holding out his hands. “Daddy!”

Tommy beamed, picking him up to hold on his lap. “Daddy, that’s right.”

Adam beamed. “He was saying something else this morning but I couldn’t tell if it was ‘peas’ or ‘pee’,” he said and Tommy smiled, pushing Jonah’s hair from his eyes.

“You know,” he said, looking at Adam. “It’s almost time for him to get a haircut,” he said and Adam cringed.

“No, cause that means my little baby’s growing up,” he said, pouting playfully. He leaned over and kissed Jonah. “You’re my baby boy. Stop growing,” he said playfully, looking at his big blue eyes. “God, you’re gonna be a heartbreaker one day, kid,” he said, shaking his head.

Tommy nodded. “He’s beautiful,” he said, hugging him close. “When do we have to meet this chick?” he asked, looking up suddenly.

Adam smiled. “About four,” he said and Tommy nodded. They were getting closer to having to go places and they wanted to get a nanny to travel with them before things got heavier to deal with. At first, they were only going to have to go together to the few promotional performances on TV shows and at radio stations, no actual concerts until after Jonah’s birthday, but there would be at least ten or so of those in the next few months and they figured they would take Jonah and their nanny, whoever it ended up being, with them so that they could get a feel for how touring with Jonah might be. Tommy was adamant about quitting the band if Jonah couldn’t handle traveling.

They were meeting with the first few potential nannies that night. They had decided meeting them at a restaurant, in a public setting, would be best because they knew there would be paparazzi all over and they needed to know how the nannies would handle the situations. Jonah hated them already. Every time they went somewhere and there were photographers getting close to them, the flashes and shouts of Adam’s name scared Jonah. Tommy had only narrowly managed to not punch somebody because he’d taken to holding Jonah whenever a group of photographers spotted them.

As expected, they had barely got inside the restaurant before flashbulbs went off outside. They were led to a small, more private table in the back, however, so they were mostly safe. They had a list of names for the hostess when the potentials arrived. “I really hope this works,” Adam said as Tommy put Jonah in the highchair and slid into the seat beside him, Jonah at the end of the table next to him, leaving the other side clear for the potential to sit at. 

“Me too, dude. I got these chicks cleared by everybody in your management office twice,” he said. “And that’s after the nanny agencies cleared them.”

Adam grinned. “Look at you being Mr. Responsible,” he teased and Tommy rolled his eyes.

“Only the best when it comes to Jonah,” he said simply.

They didn’t have to wait long for the first nanny to arrive. There were six meant to show up, the first at four and the last at eight, giving them plenty of time to interview them. By the time the fifth nanny was done, the fourth having shown up and simply quit before she even tried because all the cameras out front freaked her out, Adam and Tommy were ready to give up.

Or strangle each other.

“What was wrong with Angela, Tommy?”Adam demanded, shoving his hair out of his face again. “She was sweet, polite-“

Tommy shot him a look. “She looked like a nun.”

Adam scoffed. “So what she dressed conservatively? She’s a trained nanny, I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to show up dressed like that.”

“She was wearing a black old lady sweater and a floor length skirt-“

“She was professional!” Adam argued.

Tommy just turned to him with a glare. “She was wearing a cross necklace AND cross earrings, Adam,” he argued and Adam threw his hands up.

“Tommy, excuse the fuck out of me, but why does our nanny’s religion matter?! All I care about is whether or not she is good enough to care for our child,” he hissed.

Tommy narrowed his eyes. “She was wearing a rosary, Adam! A _rosary_! I do not want my son brainwashed by a fucking nun when we’re not around,” he hissed and Adam literally growled.

“Look, I really doubt she’d have applied to be our nanny if she was a fanatic catholic nun, Tommy. If you didn’t notice, we’re a same-sex couple! If she was a freaky religious nut, she wouldn’t apply to travel around with a big queer!” Adam stressed. “For fucks sake, name one _good_ reason Angela was a problem?” he said and Tommy sat up straighter.

“Name a _good_ reason Rachel wasn’t good enough, Adam?” he countered and Adam snorted.

“Did you _see_ her fingers?”

“Bad nails is a better reason than a cross-wearing nun?!” Tommy asked incredulously.

Adam took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. “No, she had nicotine stains. She’s a smoker. I’m not having my baby being stuck with second-hand smoke all the time. That is a real reason. Not a stupid matter of you being closed-minded,” Adam hissed and Tommy’s eyes got wide and his nostrils flared.

“How does it make me closed minded?! I’m concerned about her influence on my baby-“

“You let my mom give him dreidls, Tommy!” Adam snapped and Tommy tossed his bangs.

“Your mom isn’t a nun, Adam. I don’t care if he’s exposed to religion, I just don’t want a nun-“

“SHE WASN’T A NUN!” Adam snapped, blushing when he realized he had yelled and the waitress walking past from the main area towards the kitchens was staring. He groaned at the headache building between his eyes. “Tommy, for the love of God, she was a middle aged most likely catholic lady. That doesn’t mean she’s a nun-“

“Um, am I interrupting?” They looked up and saw a girl standing there, holding up a folder. “I can totally walk out again if you wanna keep fighting,” she said with a grin.

Adam took her in wordlessly and Tommy sighed. “No, sorry, um, are you Ms. Winters?” he asked. Adam just stared at her baggy jeans, the studded belt holding them up, her plain black tee shirt, and, most of all, the short blue hair and an abundance of tattoos and piercings. He eyed her in shock as she sat down, immediately handing Tommy the folder before dropping her bag and ignoring them altogether to lean over and talk to Jonah.

“Hey there dude,” she said, grabbing his hand to shake playfully. “What’s up buddy?” she asked and he just giggled, batting at her bracelet. “No, don’t do that, you might choke,” she said, sitting up again. She smiled brightly, leaning back some. “Sorry, hi, I’m Jinx,” she said and Adam’s eyebrow creeped even higher in disbelief.

Tommy however smiled. “Wait, Jinx? Is that your real name?” he asked.

She nodded, sitting up. “Yeah, totally. Jinx Marie Winters,” she said, waving with a little flourish. She shrugged. “My parents were very stoned,” she offered with a solemn nod.

Tommy laughed. “That’s awesome, dude! So it says here you’re only twenty-four?” he asked, looking at the folder. “Why’re you applying to be our nanny? I mean, dude, most of these chicks have been older than us,” he said.

She shrugged. “I like kids. It’s really fuckin’ hard to get a job looking the way I do though, so for now I’m sorta between families,” she said, making a face. “I think the owner of the agency gave me to you guys as a pity suggestion,” she offered and Tommy grinned. She bit her lip. “I can totally like, dye my hair brown and wear more ‘nanny’ clothes if you want me to though!” she said quickly. “I mean, I can cover the tattoos and take out the piercings and everything,” she assured.

Adam shot her a flat look. “You didn’t think about that _before_ strolling in for an interview?” he asked.

She smiled apologetically. “I was at work and didn’t have time to change, I’m sorry,” she said quickly.

Tommy waved a hand. “Dude, look me? Do you really think I give a shit about the tattoos and piercings? All I need is for you to be a good nanny and to be able to trust you not to freak out in a stressful situation with Jonah,” he added. “So, where’re you working now?” he asked.

She chuckled. “Delivering pizza,” she said and Tommy cringed.

“Ew, I did that once. It sucked.”

Jinx raised an eyebrow. “No joke? Did they tip you badly too?” she asked and Tommy nodded.

“Oh yeah, although I parked cars for about a week and that was worse tipping than anything,” he said and she groaned.

“I quit after two days,” she said and Tommy laughed. 

Adam raised an eyebrow at Tommy, earning an eye roll. “You never really had a shitty job, did you?” he teased, nudging Adam with his elbow.

Adam shrugged. “I’ve worked for tips before, but I just… had good tips and decent jobs,” he said and Tommy smirked, grabbing his hand.

“Cause you were way too good for a cruise ship,” he said playfully, then turned back to Jinx. “Look, this isn’t an easy job you’re applying for. Jonah isn’t too rough but we’ve never traveled with him. He may end up being the fussiest thing ever, we can’t know,” he explained.

She shot Jonah a look and smiled. “Aww, he looks like a sweet baby,” she said, leaning over to smile at Jonah, who looked at her, babbling and pointing at her face. “Yeah, you see my nose?” she asked, smiling.

Tommy chuckled. “He’s a good baby but especially at this phase in his life, he’ll start really noticing ‘whoa, this isn’t right!’ and stuff, you know?” he asked. “And there will be a lot of rough traveling. Trust me, going all over is fun, but getting there sucks majorly,” he said and Jinx laughed.

“I’m pretty sure I can handle it,” she said and Tommy gave her a smirk.

“So did I and I did, but it wasn’t easy,” he said.

“Will you be able to handle all the stalkers?” Adam asked and she raised an eyebrow, since he hadn’t said much. “Jonah gets a lot of attention when we go out. People are pretty intense sometimes when they’ve got a camera,” he added. “Tommy can tell you, it’s really hard to deal with when they get up in your face and honestly, the only way I’ve kept him from knocking somebody out is letting him carry Jonah. It’s really hard,” he stressed.

She shrugged. “Do I look like a pussy?” she asked, smiling. “I’m a tough chick, I can handle it.”

Tommy grinned. “I like the attitude,” he said, then leaned on his elbows to say something else. Adam zoned out a bit, watching them chatting as the headache he was getting grew even more. Tommy and Jinx were laughing loudly and Adam’s head was pounding. Tommy leaned across the table, tugging his sleeves up to compare tattoos with Jinx and Adam sighed heavily.

“Tommy, I’m gonna get Jonah and take him to get the car okay?” he asked and Tommy froze, shooting him a look.

“You okay?”

Adam cringed. “Just a headache. You guys keep talking. Jinx, we’ll call you if we pick you,” he said, and Tommy frowned, watching Adam turning away without another glance. He kept talking to Jinx for a minute but by the time Adam has Jonah out of the highchair and on his hip, Tommy was shaking hands with Jinx and watching her walk off.

When they got outside, it was all Adam could to not kick the first one to run up with a camera right in the balls. He only kept it straight thinking about Jonah and what it might mean for him if Adam went nuts and smacked a photographer. Again.

When they got in the car, Tommy buckled Jonah in then sat in the passenger seat, buckling his seatbelt. “Adam, what’s up with you?” he asked hesitantly.

Adam sighed, taking a calming breath. “Nothing, I’m just stressed at this nanny shit,” he said and Tommy made a sound of disbelief. “What?” Adam asked and Tommy shook his head. “No, what, Tommy?” he asked and Tommy shot him a look.

“You were a total jerk to Jinx, dude,” he said and Adam snorted.

“Oh God, not Jinx, the little female Tommy!” he said sarcastically and Tommy shot him a look.

“Adam, what the fuck? Why didn’t you like her?” he asked. 

Adam shrugged. “She just wasn’t very professional. It was not a good first impression, ‘just getting off of work’ or not,” he said simply. “I mean, who the hell shows up to a nanny interview wearing a tee shirt and jeans?! And she didn’t even take out lip ring, Tommy-“

“Have you _seen_ your partner?” Tommy interrupted. “I mean… really, Adam? You’ve seen me, right?” he asked, gesturing to himself. “Fuck, dude, you can’t seriously be judging a girl for her piercings and tattoos when you’re with a human pin cushion and have a good few piercings and tattoos yourself,” he pointed out.

Adam snorted. “You and I aren’t applying for FAMILY jobs, are we?” he asked and Tommy shot him a look. “Also, you judged a woman for her possible religion-“

“Oh not this again,” Tommy groaned, sinking in his seat.

Adam groaned. “You’re being an asshole, Tommy, and I don’t appreciate it-“

“Well you know what?” Tommy argued and Adam whined. “I don’t appreciate you being a total bitch for no reason! Stop being such a dick about this, damn it!” Tommy snapped.

Adam gaped. “ _I’m a dick?!_?” he cried, turning to look at Tommy. “My head is killing me, you’re being a jerk, and for fucks sake, Tommy-“

“ADAM!” Adam barely had time to notice the look of fear flash across Tommy’s face before he heard a horn blaring and he slammed on the brakes and jerked the wheel, narrowly making it back into their lane before being hit by an oncoming car.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,” Adam muttered, chest heaving as he realized how close it had been.

“Shit, it’s okay,” Tommy said, reaching over to put his hand on Adam’s shoulder. “Just breathe, okay?” he said and Adam nodded, biting his lip. Tommy sighed. “Pull over up here, okay?” he said and Adam nodded, turning down a side street, parking along the side of the road. Tommy glanced back and saw Jonah was still just fine, looking around from his car seat like nothing had happened. He looked over at Adam and cringed when he saw him leaning his head on the wheel, still shaking. “Adam, I’m sorry-“

“I nearly got us killed, fuck,” Adam breathed and Tommy cringed, undoing his seatbelt. Adam sniffled, looking up, only to see Tommy leaning over the console to wrap his arms around him.

“I shouldn’t have been yelling at you while you were driving,” Tommy said, hugging him. “I shouldn’t have been shouting at all,” he added and Adam just whimpered, wiggling around to wrap his arms back around Tommy.

“I’m sorry, I just have a headache and it’s making me bitchy and I- I nearly got us killed-“

“You didn’t,” Tommy said, kissing his jaw. “Shhhh, it’s okay, Adam,” he said, holding him close. “How about you let me drive us home?” he asked and Adam nodded, sniffling against his shoulder. “I’m sorry I shouted and I’m sorry I was a jerk earlier-“

“I was a dick too, I know,” Adam said and Tommy pulled back, smiling comfortingly.

“Let me get us home and then we’ll really talk about this, not just be jerks and yell at each other,” Tommy promised and Adam nodded, letting go of him so he could climb out and let Tommy take the driver’s seat. Tommy met him halfway around the car and caught him around the waist, stopping him at the front of the car. “Adam, really, just breathe for me,” he said and Adam nodded, still shaking like a leaf. Tommy sighed and pushed into his arms, laying his head against Adam’s chest, arms tight around him. “We’re all okay. Jonah is okay and I’m okay and you’re okay,” he said and Adam sighed, curling his arms around Tommy’s shoulders, holding him close. They stood, hugging each other close for a bit longer before Adam stopped shaking so badly. Tommy looked up and Adam smiled weakly, pressing a kiss to the top of Tommy’s head. 

“Thank you,” he said and Tommy laughed.

“Stop kissing me on top of the head, it’s just rubbing it in how short I am,” he joked, then stood on his toes, pecking Adam’s lips sweetly. “Get in the car,” he said and Adam nodded, heading around to climb in the passenger seat.

Tommy climbed in the driver’s seat then rolled his eyes, shooting Adam a playfully annoyed look as he reached down to slide the seat forward. “Long legged freak,” he said and Adam smiled at him affectionately.

“Well, it isn’t my fault you didn’t grow up to be man-sized,” he teased and Tommy just shook his head, cranking up so they could get home safely this time.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Once they got home, Adam took some medicine for his head and went straight to bed. Tommy got Jonah asleep and then headed to Adam’s room, not at all surprised to find him lying in bed awake. He padded over and simply crawled into Adam’s bed, smiling sadly when Adam rolled over and curled himself around Tommy, pressing his face into Tommy’s small chest. “Your head any better?” Tommy asked and Adam groaned.

“I’m just stressed,” he said, then looked up. “Seriously, the ‘nearly killed my family’ thing didn’t help the stress,” he said.

Tommy groaned. “Adam, everybody has car accidents. You avoided one. Not a big deal. It’s an _accident_. we’re fine, all of use” he stressed, sliding his fingers into Adam’s thick hair, holding him close. “Relax, dude.”

Adam just sighed. “I’m sorry I was a dick about that last nanny. She really seemed nice.”

Tommy chuckled. “Now that I know you were just dealing with some PMS and not being a jerk-“

“Fuck you, TommyJoe, I’ll show you PMS,” Adam grumbled, slapping him on the thigh.

Tommy giggled. “Why Adam!” he said playfully, then grinned. “As long as you weren’t just being a jerk for the hell of it, I’m not so worried. And I’m sorry I was nuts about the nun lady, but still, she was scary,” he said and Adam sighed.

“Alright, she was a little weird,” he allowed and Tommy made a pleased sound. “Well, we’ve still got a few to interview but I do like Jinx. Jonah seemed to like her and that’s what matters,” he said.

Tommy hummed. “She was pretty awesome, she has this really sweet tattoo on her wrist, right-“

“You just think she’s hot, admit it,” Adam teased and Tommy smirked.

“Well, I wouldn’t say ‘hot’, she was a little masculine for my taste and I’m pretty sure she was bigger than me, but I won’t say she wasn’t cute,” he said and Adam snorted.

“You harlot,” he teased, wiggling up so his head was on his pillow, not Tommy’s chest. He looked across at Tommy, who was still lying close on the other pillow. “No hitting on the nanny,” he warned and Tommy scoffed.

“She thinks I’m a gay man who is in a domestic partnership with _you_! No sane chick would be stupid enough to think they have a chance,” he said and Adam smirked.

“I am pretty hot,” he started, earning a groan and a shove from Tommy. Adam smirked. “Admit it, you may not be sexually attracted to me, but you totally think I’m hot,” he teased and Tommy scoffed.

“I have eyes, dude. Of course I do!” he said and Adam giggled.

“I’m just teasing, Tommy,” he said and Tommy shrugged. 

“You’re an attractive man, no denying the legions of guys throwing themselves at you and the chicks praying you’ll go bi aren’t crazy,” he said and Adam shuddered.

“Girls hitting on me is so gross. I mean, sure, I’ve thought about experimenting with girls before, but really… stop thinking you’re hot enough to ‘turn’ me,” he said and Tommy grinned.

“Well look at it for them, dude. You’re over six foot tall, you’re the definition of masculine beauty, you’re a nice person, and as it would turn out for all the women who look for exactly that, you don’t like pussy,” he said and Adam laughed.

“I guess the whole ‘gay or taken’ might have some truth to it, huh?” he asked and Tommy grinned.

“I’m not calling you girly, but you are a lot better with emotions and shit than the average man,” Tommy said. “I think it’s just cause you’re an awesome person but a lot of people might assume it’s linked to the love of dick.”

Adam rolled his eyes. “Tommy, my sexuality is not based on the physical aspects. Sure, I find men way more attractive than women, but a naked girl is still hot. No denying that. Physically, I probably could sleep with a woman, but I’m gay because I’ve never met a woman I’d want to be in a relationship with.”

Tommy nodded. “Trust me, I get it. That’s the same way I’m straight, I’m just using it as an example,” he said, chuckling. “Believe me, Lambert, tons of straight people are sexually attracted to any hot naked person, they just like to pretend they aren’t or they just don’t have a problem with ignoring it,” he said simply.

Adam laughed. “So what, you’d sleep with a guy you just don’t really feel a need since chicks do it for you?” he asked.

Tommy grinned. “Dude, I was a teenager too,” he said and Adam nodded, only to stop and frown when he realized what Tommy was saying.

“Wait, wait, wait-“ Adam sat up on his elbows looking over at Tommy. “ _What_?!” he asked.

Tommy chuckled, rolling onto his back, looking up at Adam in amusement. “What? You really think you’re an exception to the rule?”

Adam just gaped. “Why has it never come out in all the time I’ve known you that your ‘my straight is bendy’ was literal?!” he asked and Tommy shrugged.

“Never came up. If anybody had asked me or something, I’d have been honest.” He grinned. “And I didn’t _really_ sleep with a guy, Adam, I’m just saying, you get drunk with your buddy in his basement and his older brother happens to be home from college and your friend goes to bed and leaves you with is attractive older brother…” he trailed off and Adam frowned.

“Wow, that sounds like either the start to a stereotypical porno or the plot to the back story on Law & Order SVU,” he said and Tommy laughed, careful not to be too loud. Adam propped himself on his elbow, looking down at Tommy. “It was the first, right?” he asked with a concerned pout and Tommy groaned.

“Adam, I was not date-raped by my friend’s brother, oh my God your mind,” he said, smiling. “No, it wasn’t really either. I mean… stuff happened but it’s not like the hot young virgin turns into a voracious cock-slut and begs to be fucked,” he said and Adam laughed.

“Oh God, why do I get the feeling you’ve seen way more gay porn than I’d have imagined?” he teased and Tommy scoffed.

“Hello, teenage boy!” he added and Adam laughed.

“So wait, ‘hot young virgin’? How fucking old were you?” he asked and Tommy groaned.

“Okay, maybe not a virgin, but still, I was like… I don’t know, seventeen? Sixteen? I was in eleventh grade, so yeah, not a total virgin,” he said and Adam snorted.

“I’d never been kissed at seventeen, so fuck you,” he said poking out his tongue. “Sooo,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “What did happen?” he asked and Tommy shot him an amused look.

“Do you _really_ what that mental image?” he asked and Adam hummed, smirking.

He rolled onto his belly, arms under his pillow. “Mmm, too late,” he said, giving Tommy a filthy wink.

Tommy burst into giggles, groaning. “Alright, but when you have filthy sex dreams tonight, I better not wake up with you humping my leg like a horny teenager,” he said and Adam gave him a softer smile.

“You’re staying?” he asked and Tommy nodded.

“You’re all delicate and shit after the whole ‘almost wrecked us’ thing and I worry about you,” he said and Adam smiled.

“Aww, you’re so sweet,” he said. His happy smile morphed into a filthy grin. “Now tell me about your teenaged gay encounter!” he said eagerly. “I didn’t get to have any, cause of the whole ‘fat and dorky and ugly virgin till I was twenty-one’ thing, so tell me yours!” he urged.

Tommy chuckled. “Not too much to tell, I was hanging out at my friend Chris’s house because his parents were gone for the weekend and we had the booze. His brother’s name was Scott and he was twenty. He was an athlete of some sort and he had come home for the weekend. Chris and I had been drinking all night and I was pretty drunk but I wasn’t totally wasted since it was cheap, watery beer and there wasn’t much of it to be had,” he pointed out. “So like, Chris went to bed and Scott and me were on the couch still watching TV. I didn’t know Scott well or anything but he was pretty cute, you know? I mean, at the time I didn’t really notice it but he kept saying stuff about the movie and smiling and I noticed how white his teeth were and he had a nice smile.”

“C’mon, get to the good part,” Adam teased and Tommy laughed.

“Okay, well he got up to get a coke and when he came back he sat down right next to me and just put his hand on my thigh-“

“Wow, no messing around, huh?” Adam asked and Tommy grinned.

“I got all still and kinda just sat there internally freaking out because- hello! Dude’s hand on my leg. It’s not something that bro-code really allows,” he pointed out, then smirked. “But then he slid his hand up higher, right,” he continued, lowering his voice some. “And higher, and then his hand was like… right next to my crotch and I looked at him finally and he was giving me this like… look like he was seeing how far I’d let him go sort of? Challenging,” he said, lowering his voice some more when he noticed Adam seemed to be hanging on his words. “And then while I was looking at him he raised his eyebrow some and then slid his hand all the way up, totally grabbed my crotch,” he said and Adam chuckled.

“No playing around, huh?”

Tommy shook his head. “Well, I was like, frozen. Cause there was a dude’s hand on my dick, ya know? I wasn’t sure what the hell I was supposed to do about that, and of course, teenaged boy, pretty sure anything on my dick would’ve made me get hard, so obviously I started getting hard and I got all panicky sort of and like, looked away and tried to push his hand off my lap, but he just leaned in and grabbed my face with his other hand and pulled me around and kissed me,” he said and Adam hummed.

“Damn, that’s pretty presumptuous.”

“It was hot, cause like… he was a pretty good kisser and I started thinking ‘okay, maybe this isn’t such a bad idea’ and I didn’t really reciprocate as much as didn’t stop him when he pushed me back against the arm of the couch, but I was into it, just totally lost as to what to do,” he added. “And he climbed on top of me and was kissing me and he got a hand down my pants, then grabbed my wrist and pushed my hand down his pants and I sorta got with the program,” he said and Adam just stared, eyes wide, jaw dropped. “Pretty sure I sucked at the whole ‘hand job’ thing or something though, cause he just pinned me down, grabbed my hand out of his pants, and knelt over me, then he was all ‘let me watch’ so I totally jerked off with him watching and then he sorta rubbed off on my leg,” he said and Adam just stared from his spot on the pillow, eyes wide but clearly darker. “And then like, I freaked out a little and sorta ran to the bathroom to clean up and when I came out again, he had already gone to bed, so I like… had to sleep on the couch I’d totally just gotten off with a dude on,” he finished, shrugging some.

Adam stared and Tommy smirked. “What, did the ‘teen Tommy porn scene’ break you?” he asked playfully. He noticed that the ‘darker’ look in Adam’s eyes didn’t exactly look like Adam’s ‘turned on on stage’ look did. “Adam?” he asked slowly, raising an eyebrow.

Adam just clenched his jaw. “You don’t see anything wrong with that story?” he asked in a voice that dripped with disbelief and was tinged in anger.

Tommy raised an eyebrow. “Um, no… what, did you think it would end up in dramatic declarations of lust like in a porno?”

Adam just rolled his eyes. “I mean more the part where that sounds highly suspect in the whole ‘consenting’ part!” he said.

“Dude,” Tommy said, rolling his eyes. “It was totally consentual-“

“Beyond the fact that you were probably not legal so it would’ve been statutory rape,” Adam started, sitting up on his elbows to gesture with his hands. “You were _drunk_ , alone with what I assume by the ‘college athlete’ description to be a much stronger, larger guy, and from the sound of it, you didn’t exactly give clear consent on any of it, he just took the fact you weren’t fighting him off as implied consent,” he said and Tommy gave Adam a surprised look.

“Adam, whoa,” he said, shaking his head. “It was consenting. And okay, maybe statutory rape, but you can’t tell me you really see an issue with sixteen and twenty as far as ages,” he said and Adam shook his head.

“It’s not the fact you were consenting, it’s the fact it doesn’t sound like that mattered,” he said. “You didn’t give him any indication you wanted him to hit on you, he just groped you and you reacted so he went for it. You said it yourself, at that age anything would make a boy react. And you said you tried to push his hand away and he didn’t let you, he just _pinned you down_ ,” he stressed. “Yeah, you may have got on board eventually, but tell me, taking yourself out of the equation and looking at is from a ‘boy a’ and ‘boy b’ perspective that sounds even at all-“

Tommy cut Adam off. “Adam, really, I wouldn’t have told you the story of my teenaged gay experience if I thought it would bring out a consenting versus not fighting back spiel,” he said and Adam just grumbled.

“Well I’m sorry I don’t find it hot that my best friend was taken advantage of by some slimy bastard and doesn’t seem to realize it-“

“I wasn’t taken advantage of!” Tommy said and Adam sighed.

“You may not think you were because you were okay with it but nobody has the right to force themselves on somebody, especially someone drunk and that young, and think it’s consent just because they aren’t being kneed in the stomach or maced, okay? I mean… you even said you got freaked out and ran away! Sure, you were freaked because of the guy part, but he should’ve seen every reaction you gave as being too drunk or afraid to say no rather than permission to keep going,” he stressed. 

“Adam, I know what you mean now that you explained it,” Tommy said, then reached up, curling his hand around Adam’s neck. “But _I_ know I was consenting and even if I had been too drunk to consent, it’s not an issue fifteen years later, okay?” he asked. “God, I was trying to use sexy imagery to get you less stressed,” he said, pressing his fingertips into the knobs of Adam’s spine along the back of his neck.

Adam groaned, flopping face first into his pillow as Tommy pressed harder. “You cannot imagine how much I hate that I let you tell me that story now,” he admitted and Tommy sighed.

“I’m sorry, Babyboy,” he said, curling against his side.

Adam huffed. “Does ‘Scott’ have a last name?” he asked gruffly and Tommy snorted, biting his lip.

“You are not gonna go kick his ass, Adam-“

Adam smirked. “Nah, I was gonna look him up and mail him like… a bag of dog shit or something,” he said and Tommy smiled. “Nobody gets away with mistreating my friends or family. You’re both,” he said softly.

Tommy just gave him a sweet smile. “Aww, you’re so sweet,” he said, tucking himself into Adam’s side. “Why’s it such a big deal to you?” he asked.

Adam shrugged. “Because it’s just wrong. And I love my friends too much to not be pissed somebody mistreated one of them.”

Tommy just curled an arm around him. “Go to sleep, Adam,” he whispered, kissing his forehead before wiggling down against Adam’s chest.

Adam sighed, curling an arm around him. “Well at least I’m over my internal freak out about earlier,” he said and Tommy grinned, hiding his lips against Adam’s shirt.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tommy could tell Adam was up to something. Adam knew he was gonna be found out soon if he didn’t get his acting skills back up to par. Adam had decided pawning Jonah off on Tommy to go ‘shopping’ was the best excuse he would get.

It took a few tries to get in contact with everybody who was available, but by the day of Tommy’s birthday, Adam had everything ready. The day started when he got Jonah up and together the climbed into bed with Tommy, waking him up with sneak attack hugs. “Dada!” Jonah squealed as Tommy rolled over, smiling sleepily at the new bodies in his bed. “Dada dada!” Jonah cried and Adam put him on Tommy’s chest once he was on his back.

“Morning, Jonah,” Tommy said, kissing his forehead. He looked at the smirk on Adam’s face and frowned. “Uh-oh,” he said and Adam giggled.

“Happy birthday to you!-“ Tommy groaned, rolling his eyes as Adam sang the whole song, including ‘happy birthday to daddy’. “Happy birthday to you,” he finished, leaning in to kiss his face.

Tommy scrunched up his nose. “Ew, sloppy slobbery cheek kisses, gross,” he said and Adam laughed.

“I could totally tongue-kiss you but Jonah’s in the way,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows playfully.

Tommy snorted. “I’ll pass, thanks,” he said, then smiled when Jonah squealed, sitting on his chest. “Yeah, happy birthday to me,” he said and Adam smiled brightly.

“You’re getting nice and old,” he teased and Tommy smirked.

“Three months, Babyboy,” he teased, smirking up at him. “Hmmm, I think we should go out together today since it’s my birthday,” he said and Adam gave him a smile.

“I sorta have plans,” he said and Tommy raised an eyebrow.

“Dude, not to sound like a nagging girlfriend, but you made plans on my _birthday_?” he asked with a slight pout.

Adam rolled his eyes. “You idiot, _all_ of us have plans,” he said, then glared. “You really think I’d skip out on you on your birthday?” he asked and Tommy shrugged. “Dumb ass,” he said, leaning down to kiss his cheek again. “I’d never treat you like that,” Adam reassured, earning a smile.

“Awww, look at you being sweet,” he teased, then grabbed Adam’s hand. “So, you made plans, huh?” he asked.

Adam nodded. “Yep! But I’m not telling you till we get there,” he said with a playful grin.

Tommy laughed. “Tease!” 

“You wish!” Adam said, rolling off the bed. “Now get up and get dressed,” he said, taking Jonah with him as they left Tommy to get out of bed.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When they pulled up outside of Monte’s house, with cars in the driveway and on the street, Tommy turned to Adam with a grin. “You didn’t,” he said and Adam smiled shyly, shrugging.

“I may have gotten Monte to invite some people over,” he said with a coy shrug as he turned off the car and got out, pulling the seat forward to lean in and get Jonah.

As soon as they got to the door and let themselves in, they were hit with the sounds of a house in motion. They heard somebody shouting from upstairs, there were laughs from the living room, the sounds of a kitchen full of people from the kitchen, and the sounds of playing children coming from what seemed like everywhere. Tommy grinned. “What the hell? Nobody even noticed we’re here,” he said and Adam shrugged, hefting Jonah onto his hip as they ventured into the house, only to stop short when a line of screaming and giggling children came rushing down the stairs. 

“JONAH!” Ariel cried, holding out her arms demandingly.

Adam laughed, leaning down to hand Jonah to Ariel, who cuddled the baby happily. “You promise to be careful?” he asked and she nodded, turning to show him off to her sisters and brother. “Alright, don’t take him too far,” he said, then he and Tommy followed them through the doorway to the kitchen, smiling when they saw Lisa standing there with their mothers. 

“Mommy, Adam’s here,” Ariel announced, getting their attention.

Tommy scoffed. “Oh no, ignore me, Adam’s the only one here,” he said and Ariel just gave him a look. “Hey, I play princess with you,” he teased and she smiled.

“Mommy, Princess Buttercup is here,” she said and Tommy gaped while Adam snickered.

“Princess Buttercup?” he asked, fighting back laughter.

Tommy just glared. “Don’t you dare.”

Lisa laughed, going over to hug them both. “Aww, don’t blame him, blame Monte,” she said and Tommy snorted.

“Of course I do, they inherited his smartass mouth,” he said, then nodded at Adam. “I blame his dad for Neil all the time,” he said and Adam grinned.

“Happy birthday baby,” Dia said, walking over to hug Tommy, which prompted Leila to steal Tommy for a hug of her own.

“Somebody’s getting old,” Leila teased and Tommy snorted.

“Somebody is my partner’s _mother_ ,” he countered, making a face at her. Adam laughed and Tommy pointed over his shoulder at Adam. “Just think, you were already an adult when that was like that,” he said, pointing to Jonah, where Ariel and Aurora had him on the kitchen floor, crawling around with him. “Don’t talk to me about being old,” he teased and Leila rolled her eyes.

“Trust me, that-“ she hooked a thumb at Jonah. “Is probably still smaller than that-“ she gestured to Adam. “Was when it was in my uterus,” she said and Adam cringed.

“I really hate that word,” he said and the women all rolled their eyes.

Tommy smirked, nudging Adam’s hip playfully. He stood on his toes and whispered so only Adam could hear him. “Just think, Adam, you were actually inside a woman once,” he said and Adam gaped at him, looking horrified.

“Thanks, I have to go kill myself now,” he said out loud, groaning as he put his hands over his mouth. “Oh God, I’m gonna go see who all showed up,” he said, whining playfully as he walked out.

Tommy grinned as they women all turned and stared at him. “Nothing,” he said, then walked over to snag Jonah as he crawled past. “Alright, come on little man,” he said, holding him up over his head. “Sorry girls, I gotta take Jonah to see everybody,” he said, laughing when Jonah squealed.

“DAAAA!” Jonah cried, clapping his hands as Tommy put him back on his hip. 

Tommy carried Jonah out, following Adam to the living room, only to smile when he saw a lot of their friends there. “Tommy!” Isaac shouted, eliciting a round of cheers and echos of ‘happy birthday’.

Tommy laughed, as he saw Isaac sprawled over Cam and Taylor. “Somebody’s hittin’ the party punch early, huh?” he teased and Isaac grinned drunkenly.

“You know it baby!”

Tommy walked over, handing Jonah to Cam as she made grabby hands. “I missed you,” he said, leaning in to kiss her cheek, then ruffle Taylor’s hair. “What up, dude?” he teased, ducking Taylor’s swat. He looked around and smiled when he saw Adam standing with Eber and Brooke and- much to Tommy’s surprise, Neil. “Neil!” he cried, throwing out his arms as he ran and launched himself over the coffee table to tackle the younger Lambert sibling.

Neil cried out as Tommy knocked them into the wall, clinging to him. “Ew, gross, off!” he said, trying to shake Tommy off.

“You lie, you love me!” Tommy cried, trying his best to kiss Neil, who kept dodging him. “Come on, I’m your brother, you gotta kiss me damn it!”

Neil snorted. “I don’t know where you’ve been but brother’s don’t try and kiss each other on the mouth dude. And you’re my brother _-in-law_ so I don’t have to like you at all,” he added.

Adam chuckled. “Tommy, don’t kiss him on the mouth, cause then you’ll give me Neil germs,” he said and Tommy stopped, raising an eyebrow at him playfully, still hanging off of Neil.

“Oh yeah, you planning on kissing me later?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Adam rolled his eyes. “Maybe, but I was thinking more about eating and drinking after you,” he said and Tommy sighed, shaking his head with mock disappointment.

“I can’t even get some on my birthday,” he joked and Adam laughed in shock. Tommy used the distraction and kissed Neil right on the mouth, slipping him some tongue as he did so.

“Blah! Ew, oh dude, gross!” Neil cried, jerking his head away, dropping Tommy on the floor. Neil doubled over, making a scene out of wiping out his mouth with the tail of his shirt while Adam and Eber just clung to each other as they laughed, fighting to stay upright.

Brooke curled her arms around Tommy, who threw his arms up in victory. “Come on, was that necessary?” she asked and Tommy beamed.

“Hell yeah!” he cried triumphantly then laughed. “Oh God, know what the worst part is?” he asked and Neil snorted, standing up.

“Being tongue-raped by a midget?” he asked and Tommy giggled.

“That’s the most action I’ve got in about a year,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows. 

Brooke smiled at him. “What, your man ain’t giving you any?” she teased, winking at Adam, who rolled his eyes.

Tommy sighed dramatically. “Now you know the truth about our sad, loveless marriage.” He sniffled dramatically, laying his head on Brooke’s chest as he faked sobs.

Adam rolled his eyes. “Don’t be fooled, he’s just using his little joke to feel you up,” he informed Brooke, who glanced down at Tommy with his face practically in her cleavage and the hands awfully low on her back and she snickered.

“Tommy, is that your hand on my ass?” she asked and he just giggled.

“Um, no?”

She laughed and shrugged him off, crossing her arms at him. He gave her an innocent look and Adam rolled his eyes. “Stop feeling up our friends,” he chastised, swatting at Tommy’s head as he walked past. He walked over and stole Jonah from where Isaac and Taylor were fighting Cam for the baby.

Tommy grinned when he heard the girls run past. “Where’s Monte?” he asked, looking up at Eber and Neil.

Neil smirked. “Monte’s getting into middle aged as best he can. It involves a grill, a Hawaiian shirt, and a ‘kiss the cook’ apron,” he said and Tommy gaped.

“Tell me there’s beer and a spatula involved and I’m sold,” he said and Neil nodded. Tommy grinned and took off through the house, heading out the back door on a mission.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
After dinner, everybody was settled in the living room, watching Aurora and Ariel trying to teach Jonah to walk. He could hold onto the coffee table and cruise along pretty well and he could hold their hands and walk a few steps, but when they let go of him, he wobbled and fell on his diaper padded bottom.

“God, my baby’s growing up,” Adam whined, leaning his head on Tommy’s shoulder with a pout.

Tommy grinned and patted his head playfully. “I know, Babyboy, I know,” he said, smiling as he sat back.

“Here you go kid,” Lisa said, kissing Tommy’s cheek as she handed him another beer on her way past them. “Happy birthday,” she teased and Tommy grinned.

Leila shot him a disapproving look. “Don’t you guys have to drive home?” she asked them and Adam held up his blue cup with a gesture.

“Just diet coke for me, I’m being the designated dad since it’s TommyJoe’s birthday,” he said, fluffing Tommy’s hair as Tommy leaned into his side. 

Tommy smiled, leaning onto Adam’s touch. “Besides dude, do you know how long it’s been since I got to sit down and just have a beer?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “I’ve been playing house husband for a long time,” he said and Adam grinned.

“And you still never have dinner on the table when I get home from a long day at work,” he teased and Tommy grinned then made a dramatic sigh.

“You just never tell me I’m pretty anymore.” He broke down in fake sobs. 

Adam grinned. “Bitch, bitch, bitch!” he teased, then doubled over in laughs with Tommy while everybody else watched them in amusement. “Oh hey, Monte, did you get Tommy that present you talked about?” he asked and Tommy perked up some.

“Presents?” he asked, looking around excitedly.

Monte chuckled. “Yeah, I got you one and I know Adam did. I think Lisa put some stuff upstairs so I guess some other people did,” he said and Tommy grinned.

“Sweet, presents!” he said, then looked at Adam. “And what did you get me? You suck at secrets,” he said.

Adam smirked. “You didn’t know you were having a birthday barbecue until we got here,” he challenged and Tommy smiled.

“True, so what’d you get me?” he asked.

“Well, let’s see what everybody else got you before I show you,” he said and Tommy smiled eagerly. 

“You heard him, gimme!” he said, holding out his arms expectantly. Monte laughed, then handed his beer to Lisa so he could get up and go get the things people had brought.

Tommy ended up getting a pair of platform boots from Monte and Lisa (Adam rolled his eyes as Tommy put them on and seemed delighted at how much taller they made him), a good few joke tee-shirts (including two about tacos) from some of the others, and then, once he was done, he turned to Adam, who was holding Jonah in his lap, smiling expectantly.

Adam grinned. “You want your present, huh?” he teased and Tommy grinned.

“C’mon, I may be thirty-one but I’m internally about five,” he said and Adam laughed.

“Alright, but I’ve got a baby,” he said, cuddling Jonah, who was clearly sleepy. He looked over at Monte. “Will you go get it?” he asked and Monte grinned, nodding as he jumped up and headed upstairs.

Tommy eyed Adam curiously. “What did you get me?” he asked and Adam smiled.

“Something,” he teased, nudging him as he rocked Jonah, who was blinking sleepily, curled against his dad’s chest. Adam kissed his hair, rubbing a hand over his back as he got closer and closer to sleep.

When Monte came back in, Tommy looked up and nearly choked on his drink as he saw him carrying a guitar case. “Dude,” he said, shooting Adam a look.

Monte chuckled, shaking his head. “You are a lucky boy, TommyJoe,” he said, setting the case in front of him.

Tommy shot Adam a look, then slid to the floor, flipping open the case only to gasp. “Oh my God,” he said and Adam smiled down at him, rubbing Jonah’s back as he squirmed at his daddy’s exclamation. Tommy looked up, eyes wide. “Adam,” he breathed and Adam grinned.

“Did I do good?” he asked and Tommy just held up his hands wordlessly.

“What is it?” Neil asked and Tommy let out a soft laugh.

“Lucille,” he said, easing the guitar out of the case. He held it on his knee, gazing at it in awe. “Holy shit, it’s beautiful,” he sighed, curling his fingers around the neck gingerly.

Monte chuckled. “Pretty sure if you were really married, you’d be getting laid when you got home,” he informed Adam, who rolled his eyes.

Tommy looked up. “Fuck that, he might be getting laid anyways,” he said then beamed at Adam. “Dude,” he said and Adam gave him a smile. Tommy just shook his head. “How did you even know to buy me this?” he asked in wonder.

Adam rolled his eyes. “I may not play it myself, but I’m a musician, I know what guitars are popular,” he said and Tommy just sighed, stroking a finger along the guitar’s face.

“She’s incredible,” he breathed, only to suddenly laugh. “Holy shit, I just noticed the fret board,” he said, shifting the guitar to show it to the people sitting on the other couch. Along the fret board, in glittery blue letters, it read ‘Glitterbaby’ in curly letters. 

“I’m confused,” Taylor said, reclining on Brooke’s lap with his feet in Isaac’s lap.

Isaac rolled his eyes. “That’s an ES three forty-five custom guitar. It’s a B.B. King custom and now it’s pretty popular,” he explained. “Pretty expensive too,” he added and Tommy nodded.

“Seriously,” he said, then looked up at Adam. “Seriously, thank you,” he said and Adam shrugged.

“I know I’ll get you to play it for me so that’s good enough for me,” he said and Tommy shook his head in amazement. He put his new guitar back into the case and then stood up and walked over to Adam. He slid into his lap, careful not to squish Jonah, then pressed their foreheads together, smiling.

“You’re amazing,” he said softly, wrapping his arms around his neck. “Seriously, thank you.”

Adam smiled, tilting his head back to look at Tommy. “Happy birthday,” he said and Tommy shook his head, leaning in to press a small kiss to his lips. “Don’t squish Jonah,” Adam said when Tommy pulled back.

“I’m not,” he said, looking down at the drowsy baby between them. “He’s falling out, huh?” he asked, sliding off of Adam’s lap to sit beside him, peeking down at Jonah’s sleepy eyes.

Adam nodded. “We need to get home soon,” he said, then rolled his eyes at the happy look on Tommy’s face. “You’d think you had a good birthday or something,” he teased and Tommy just laughed, leaning his head against Adam’s shoulder, looking down at Jonah.

“I think it was pretty great,” he said, glancing up at Adam, smiling when Adam pressed a kiss to his forehead.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
After interviewing five more nannies, Adam has to admit Tommy was right when he decided without a doubt that he wanted Jinx. Tommy looked smug when Adam admitted it but eagerly found her file and called her, asking her to show up at their house for another meeting.

“I hope this works out,” Adam said, smiling as Jonah stood in his playpen, watching him pacing as they waited. “I’d let you out if I wasn’t worried I’m too distracted, baby,” he promised and Tommy watched Jonah chewing on his toy dog with a laugh.

“Those cute little chompers are getting a workout,” he joked and Adam smiled. Jonah was getting some teeth finally, after months of teething and nights full of crying from the pain, and Adam had to admit he looked so cute with two little teeth when he smiled.

When they heard the doorbell ring, Tommy gave Adam a supportive smile. “Remember, we’re doing this for Jonah,” he said and Adam nodded.

“Right.” He went to get the door and smiled when he opened it and found Jinx had a new hair color… bright fuchsia. “Hey Jinx,” he said in greeting. “Sweet hair,” he added, earning a smile.

“Thanks, I’m thinking I may go orange yet. Pull a whole Annie Lennox thing,” she said, shrugging as Adam led her inside, guiding her to the living room. He felt a bit of relief when she waved at Tommy then immediately waved at Jonah. “Hey dude,” she said and Jonah squealed, giggling at her. “Yeah, I’m pretty weird, huh?” she joked, turning to look at Adam and Tommy eagerly.

Tommy smiled. “So,” he started, going to stand beside Adam. “We’ve reviewed a lot of nannies and, while you may not be the best qualified, we sort of think you’re the best fit,” he said and she beamed.

“Oh wow, thank you!” she said, looking eager. “This means a lot to me,” she said. “This is a great opportunity, thank you so much.”

Adam held up a hand. “Don’t get too excited,” he started, chuckling. “We’re going to be doing a few performances, press things, between now and Christmas, since my album’s coming out soon, so we’re going to call these a trial run, sort of,” he explained. “We don’t want to sign a contract with you unless we’re sure you’ll take good care of our baby and not clash with anybody we work with,” he explained. “None of these are really ‘tour’ situations, they’re all one-offs and there won’t be any buses involved-“

“Buses will be the test of your mental ability,” Tommy added, earning a glare from Adam.

“Anyways, it’ll be strictly flying and hotel stays, but the point is, Jonah’s never flown, never slept away from home, and really hasn’t been without at least one of us more than an hour in his whole life,” Adam said. “So this is going to be an adjustment for him and we figure if you can handle that, you’ll work out just fine,” he finished.

She nodded. “Definitely. I’ve worked with separation anxiety before, I’ll do my best,” she said earnestly. She nodded at Jonah and Tommy laughed, nodding. “Sweet!” she said, then walked over to his playpen, talking to him some before picking him up. He looked confused at the new person, but he didn’t seem to upset as she spoke to him, carrying him around as she talked and he babbled back at her.

Tommy smiled, standing on his toes to kiss Adam’s cheek. “Don’t worry,” he said and Adam sighed.

“I just can’t believe we’re trusting a stranger with the care of our son,” Adam noted and Tommy chuckled.

“You worry? I haven’t gone more than about three hours away from him since he was born! Between soundchecks and shows I’ll be away from my baby longer than I ever have,” he said and Adam smiled sadly.

“It sucks, but you can do it. I did,” he said, then curled an arm around Tommy’s shoulders, smiling when Jinx walked over with Jonah on her hip.

“I think we’ve decided we’re gonna be friends,” she announced to them, smiling when Jonah clapped and squealed in agreement. “Dude, you have some lungs, kid,” she said, poking his nose playfully.

Tommy laughed. “Hell yeah he does. You’d think he was biologically Adam’s if you didn’t know better,” he said, poking Adam in his hip playfully.

She raised an eyebrow. “He’s not?” she asked, looking at Adam then at Jonah. “I mean, he doesn’t look like you or anything, but I sorta just figured with the blue eyes and dark hair you were the sperm donor,” she said and Adam rolled his eyes.

“Wow, you really must not know much about me,” he teased and she smiled bashfully.

“Not really my kinda music, sorry,” she said and Tommy laughed.

“Adam’s a redhead,” he said and Adam rolled his eyes. “Well you are! You see Jinx,” he started, pulling Adam’s sleeve up to expose his arm. “Full ginger,” he said, and she laughed as Adam snatched away, shooting him an annoyed look. “Jonah’s a hundred percent adopted,” he said with a shrug.

She smiled. “Well, he’s also one hundred percent adorable,” she said, kissing the baby’s hair. “I promise, I’ll do the best I can, Mr. Lambert,” she said honestly.

Adam rolled his eyes. “I’m not that much older than you, oh my God, call me Adam!” he whined.

Tommy snickered. “Aww, but it sounds so cute, dude. ‘Mr. Lambert’,” he said all serious.

Adam glared. “What if I called you Mr. Ratliff?” he asked and Tommy rolled his eyes.

“Better than ‘my pretty kitty’,” he intoned, fluttering his hands around until Adam laughed and whacked him on the shoulder.

“Shut up, you used to rub all over me on stage like a house cat, can you blame the fans?” he asked pointedly. “Besides, you still are a cuddle slut about like a house cat as well,” he added with a smile.

Tommy just rolled his eyes. “Don’t believe him Jinx, I’m not a house cat,” he said and she grinned at their interactions. “Just call him Sir Glitter Pants,” he joked and Adam groaned, putting his hand over Tommy’s face to push him away playfully.

“That’s it, we’re selling Daddy, Jonah,” Adam informed Jonah, who was sitting comfortably in Jinx’s arms. 

“Dada!” he said, holding his arms up in the air with a bright smile. Adam and Tommy both just exchanged happy smiles when Jonah started shouting ‘Dada’ and variations of it over and over, giggling gleefully. It was always magical to hear their baby talking to them.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tommy sunk lower in his seat, pretty sure everybody was ready to shoot them. Because of traveling with Jonah, they had managed to get the management to spring for first class on the flight. However, for a good while, Jonah had been crying. Tommy watched as he tugged at his ears and cringed. “Poor baby,” he said and Adam nodded, holding Jonah against his chest.

“I feel so bad for him. My ears pop and that sucks bad enough. He’s got no experience with this stuff,” he said, kissing Jonah’s head. “Shhhh, Dad’s got you,” he whispered, rocking him some. Thankfully, he had stopped screaming after a few minutes, but he continued to cry at a lower volume for ages. It wasn’t until they had been in the air two full hours that he started to calm down to whimpers. It was mostly because he had tired himself out.

Tommy could see people shooting them looks and only half of them were because of the crying baby. It really pissed him off to see so many people giving them disgusted looks. He had gotten used to ignoring the shit people said on the internet, but it really annoyed him to know people thought they weren’t fit to be parents. He ignored it for the most part because _they_ knew that they were a happy family, but he didn’t want to think about Jonah growing up and hearing people go on about how wrong his family was.

Tommy was distracted by a hand reaching for him and a whimpered ‘daddy’ from Jonah. He turned and caught Jonah’s hand, smiling as he saw Jonah pouting up at him from Adam’s chest. He leaned against Adam’s shoulder and smiled at Jonah. “I know, baby,” he whispered, kissing Jonah’s hand as he held it loosely. Jonah’s big blue eyes were drooping as he continued to whimper, his bottom lip wobbling pitifully. Tommy just sighed, staying where he was until he drifted off to sleep even before Jonah.

Adam smiled down at Tommy asleep on his shoulder and Jonah falling asleep on his chest. “Love you guys,” he whispered, kissing both of their heads. He looked up and smiled when he saw Jinx glancing at them from across the aisle. She gave him a wide smile, nodding at Jonah.

“Is he alright now?” she asked and Adam nodded, lifting his finger to his lips to shush her before closing his eyes to lean his head over against Tommy’s, enjoying the peace and quiet while it lasted.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Adam smiled sadly as he watched Tommy trying to get dressed without putting Jonah down or handing him to Jinx. “Tommy,” he said softly and Tommy just have him a slightly distressed look. “Tommy, it’s gotta happen sooner or later,” he said and Tommy sighed, kissing Jonah.

“He’s going to cry,” he said and Adam nodded.

“I know,” he said and Tommy looked pained. Eventually, however, when he was dressed, it was really time to leave.

“Trust me guys, we’ll have fun,” Jinx said, taking Jonah from Tommy. “We’ll sit here and play, won’t we?” she asked Jonah, who watched her earrings jingling, laughing as he batted at one of them. “Hey, none of that,” she said, then laughed. “I’ll take them out so he doesn’t knock one off and get choked,” Jinx reassured Tommy.

Tommy sighed and nodded finally. “Alright, I love you, Jonah,” he said, kissing his cheek, careful not to get lipstick on him. “Me and your dad will be back soon,” he promised.

Adam kissed Jonah as well then turned and followed Tommy to the door, cringing when he heard Jonah start whining and saw Tommy’s shoulder’s tense. “DADA!” Jonah cried and Adam cringed when Tommy turned back, eyes wide and pained.

“No, they’ve gotta go away for a little while but me and you will have fun!” Jinx reassured, bouncing Jonah, cringing some when he accidentally smacked her as he reached out towards the two heading out the door. “Jonah, be sweet-“

“DAAADDY,” Jonah cried, and Adam cringed when he saw Tommy’s eyebrows scrunch up and his lip disappear between his teeth as Jonah started crying, shouting for them.

“Adam-“

Adam caught Tommy’s hand and tugged him around. “We’ve gotta go,” he said, bustling Tommy out the door, shutting it firmly behind them.

“Adam, he’s scared-“ 

Adam cut off Tommy’s argument by looping an arm around his shoulders, guiding him down the hall. “He’s just a baby who isn’t used to not having at least one of us right there,” he reassured. “He’s fine. You just haven’t gone anywhere away from him for any length of time before,” he said, only to notice Tommy full on shaking and worrying his lip as they walked into the elevator.

“He was crying for me,” Tommy whispered and Adam felt his heart drop when he saw Tommy’s eyes glistening.

“TommyJoe,” Adam breathed, curling his arms around him, only to cringe when Tommy pressed himself close, hiding his face in Adam’s chest as he clung to him tightly, hands fisted in his jacket. He closed his eyes and kissed Tommy’s hair. “If it makes you feel any better, when I left last time and he was crying for me while I walked out the door, I cried all the way to the airport,” he admitted.

Tommy just sniffled as he turned his head to the side, allowing Adam to see Tommy’s pout in the reflection from the doors. “I’ve gotta suck it up, dude,” Tommy said weakly and Adam smiled, kissing his head again.

“You’ll be okay. I was. And it’s only a few hours, we’ll have him back soon,” he said and Tommy laughed.

“It’s ridiculous to think that a year ago, I had no idea Jonah existed and now I can’t stand leaving him for a few hours,” he said, shaking his head. “I swear, that kid’s got me wrapped around his finger,” he joked and Adam laughed.

“God, it’s only been almost a year since I asked you to be my babydaddy,” he teased and Tommy laughed.

“I’m really glad you did,” he said, leaning up to kiss Adam sweetly. “Jonah’s the best thing to ever happen to me,” he said honestly.

Adam grinned, hugging him. “Well duh, he’s our baby!” Tommy leaned back into the loop of his arms comfortably looking up at him. Adam snickered. “You have eyeliner all over now,” he teased, shifting to holding Tommy with one arm as he raised his hand, carefully wiping away the makeup smudged on Tommy’s face.

The elevator doors opened beside them and they were met with a whistled catcall, making them both look out, only to spot Isaac and Monte waiting on them. “Well, well, well,” Isaac teased, wiggling his eyebrows at their position of being pressed together, faces inches apart with Adam’s hand on Tommy’s cheek.

Adam rolled his eyes as Tommy glared, cheeks flaming. “Come on, he’s got eyeliner and I was fixing it,” he said, then tugged Tommy after him by his hand.

Monte just snickered and walked off, though Tommy could’ve sworn he was humming ‘Love In An Elevator’ as he walked off.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
After the first trip, the following few press performances are a lot easier. They finish those just in time for Thanksgiving. The ones after Thanksgiving are all going to be done in LA, so they get to stay home.

Tommy had freaked out the whole time away from Jonah the first few times, but Jinx ended up being great at calming Jonah down and distracting him from his parents not being there. After Thanksgiving, they decided it was best for Jonah to call Jinx over to their house to watch him while they spent all day doing press performances rather than just let his grandmothers take turns. Tommy explained he had read about how it would be easier on his separation anxiety if they kept things in a pattern and Adam just agreed since he didn’t have any better ideas.

Adam’s last press tour performance, before they took a break for the holidays and didn’t start tour until February, was an acoustic set and an interview with Ellen DeGeneres. Tommy was relieved because at least she was nice. Some of them were prying assholes towards Adam and it really annoyed him to see.

“Adam Lambert, everybody!” she announced and Adam came out, smiling and waving. They greeted each other and made a little small talk about the audience before launching into the interview. “So, it’s been a while! You took about a year or so off from public appearances,” she said and he nodded.

“Yeah, well, I was working on recording my album and then my personal life kind of took more importance for a while, but I’m getting back into it now,” he said with a smile.

Ellen laughed. “I can’t not take the bait, and I hope you forgive me, but you’ve got a family now! That has to be amazing,” she said and Adam beamed, bouncing in his seat some.

“Yeah, I’ve taken a while off so that my boyfriend and I could welcome our baby into our lives and really focus on him,” he confirmed, nodding.

She made a face and sighed. “Oh my God, I know you must get it a lot, but the other day I saw some pictures of your son that your partner had posted on twitter and he is just _adorable_ ,” she said with a bright smile. “Have we got a picture?” she asked, turning to look at someone. “We do?”

Adam heard the audience burst into ‘awwww’s and turned, gaping when he saw the photo on the screen. “Whoa, I didn’t see that one,” he said, then laughed. It was a photo of him asleep on the couch with Jonah curled in his arms, Jonah’s eyes wide as he looked at presumably Tommy, but otherwise comfortably sprawled on his father’s chest. “Aww, that little jerk,” he said ruefully.

Ellen smirked. “I assume you mean your partner, not your son,” she teased. “So how old is he now?” she asked and Adam smiled.

“Nearly eleven months old,” he said, making a face. “His birthday is a few weeks before mine,” he said, groaning. “My baby’s growing up,” he said with a playful pout.

She laughed. “So how’s that going? I mean, your partner’s in your band right?” she asked.

Adam nodded, glancing over at the darkened performance area. “Yeah, he’s sitting over there, being all musiciany,” he said, turning back as he saw one of the cameras turn to Tommy, prompting him to make faces. 

“So what’re you going to do about tour?” Ellen asked. “It’s in February right?”

Adam nodded. “We’re bringing him with us,” he said and she looked surprised.

“Really? Touring with a one year old baby?” she asked skeptically.

Adam sat up straighter. “Yeah, we have a nanny who will travel with us and take care of him when we’re busy performing, and we took him with us the last few places we performed pre-release to get him used to flying and such, but so far I think it’s going to work well,” he explained. “Tommy was going to quit the band to stay home with him if that didn’t work, but thankfully it did,” he said, laughing. “I can’t imagine going a whole tour without seeing Jonah.”

“Are you worried at all about the kind of criticism that will get you?” she asked and he cringed.

“Well, I’ve faced a lot of criticism about him already, but no matter what they think, _I_ know he’ll be okay. Jonah’s my number one priority above anything and I wouldn’t be taking him with me if I thought it would be bad for him. Instead, I don’t want him to be raised by his grandparents, you know? I want him to know his parents love him and I want to be around. I can’t imagine going six months without getting to spend time with him,” he said, shaking his head.

“When you say criticism,” she started. “I’m assuming you mean the fact he has two dad’s,” she said and he nodded, rolling his eyes. 

“Oh I get threatening letters from Christian groups and criticism about ‘what will you do when-‘ in regards to how being raised by two men isn’t as good, in their mind, as a mom and a dad, and it’s all just noise,” he said, waving a hand. “I know some things will be different, but it isn’t a big deal to me that we’re both men. We’re still two parents who love him,” he said pointedly.

She smiled. “Well, in the end that’s what is important, but what will you do when he gets old enough to realize his family isn’t like everybody else’s?” she asked.

“Hopefully,” he started. “By the time he’s old enough to look around and realize ‘boy, girl, boy girl, boy, girl… why are my parents both boys?’ this society will be more understanding about same-sex parents,” he said simply. “Sure, growing up some things will be different with two fathers, but nothing monumentally life-changing. I mean, talking about girls when he gets older might be kind of difficult if it’s down to me,” he joked. “But daddy likes girls too so we’ll just leave that to him,” he teased. Everybody laughed and he turned back to a more serious tone. “Hopefully by then we won’t get teased for it, but if he does, we’ll just explain to him that they’re not worth his time,” he stressed. “His dad and daddy love him more than anything else in the world, just like Susie’s mom and dad or whatever, you know? He will know that we love him and hopefully people will eventually realize that it’s pretty sexist to assume men can’t be loving parents?” he said, shrugging. “Our son is the center of Tommy’s and my world. Everything else is second to him. You can’t expect more than that from any parent, can you?” he asked honestly.

She smiled at him, clearly amused. “I couldn’t put it better myself,” she said. “So the album is out already-“ Adam just sighed in relief, glad to be off of the touchy subject he’d been getting so much shit for.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tommy looked up from the children’s book he was reading to Jonah as they lay on Adam’s bed and glanced at Adam, who was sitting at his desk. “Adam, what’re we going to do about the holidays?” he asked.

Adam glanced up. “What about them?” he asked.

Tommy shrugged. “Well, what holiday are we going to celebrate with Jonah?” he asked, leaning over to kiss Jonah’s face as he hit his stuffed dog into the book Tommy was reading him. “Neither of us are very religious, but a kid can’t grow up without some family traditions for the holiday season,” he pointed out.

Adam raised an eyebrow. “Well, it’s the third day of Hanukah already,” he said and Tommy frowned.

“Dude, its Hanukah already? I thought it was around the same time as Christmas?” he asked, clearly confused.

Adam laughed. “Well, last year it was but the Hebrew calendar is different. It’s not set by the calendar we use. This year the end of Kislev fell in early December. Some years it’s in late November,” he answered. “I’d explain it but it would take ages and I don’t really remember all the details. I mean, I haven’t celebrated Hanukah since I left home,” he pointed out.

Tommy hummed. “Well, I haven’t really celebrated Christmas in a way other than buying a girlfriend a present or going to eat dinner with my mom or something, but we could always get a Christmas tree,” he said, smiling. “I always thought that was the coolest thing when I was little,” he said.

Adam chuckled. “Well, I can’t say I’ve ever had a Christmas tree, but it sounds okay to me. I always did wonder as a little kid what it was like waking up on Christmas morning. We had eight days of celebrations and gifts so there wasn’t that same excitement.”

Tommy beamed. “Jonah’s first Christmas,” he said, looking at their son happily. “I think you’ll really like Christmas lights and ornaments, dude,” Tommy said to Jonah, who just stared at him, chewing on the book they had been reading. “You’ll probably break half of them, but it’s okay, you’re excused,” he teased and Adam laughed.

“You know, just to be fair, we should take him over to see my mom’s house when the rest of her family comes to visit so she can sing songs with Jonah and include him in the celebrations,” he pointed out. “I told her from the start that we probably wouldn’t be involved in a lot of the religious celebrations with the family since we’re not raising Jonah in a religion, and she understood and it didn’t bother her, but it would be nice to at least let her show him off to my aunts and uncles and cousins,” he said.

Tommy chuckled. “If we go over will I get all the funny looks for being the only non-jew there besides the baby?” he asked and Adam shook his head.

“Nah, you won’t be. A few of my cousins are other religions and they just come because it’s a family thing and they want to stay involved. I don’t think any of them are atheists but there’s at least one family of Christians and, if I’m not mistaken, my cousin Charlotte is Sikh or something,” he said, shrugging.

Tommy hummed. “That’s the Indian one, right? Or one of them?” he asked.

Adam nodded. “She went to India in her twenties and ‘found herself’. She explained once but I didn’t follow really. All in all, it’s a pretty cool lifestyle choice, I think.” He shrugged. “But we should go. If nothing else, there will be good food and we get to show off our baby,” he suggested.

Tommy smiled. “Sounds cool. When will this shindig be?” he asked, rolling onto his back when Jonah crawled over to him.

Adam chuckled. “Did you just say ‘shindig’?” he asked. Tommy just flipped him off. “Alright, whatever,” he said, laughing. “Last night of Hanukah,” he answered.

Tommy smiled. “Sweet, and next week we can go get a Christmas tree and buy all the shit to go on it and buy Jonah tons of cute little reindeer outfits,” he said eagerly, smiling at Jonah. “You’ll look so cute in Christmas clothes,” he said, ruffling his hair. “He really needs a haircut,” he added and Adam whined.

“Nooo, he’s my baby, he can’t get a haircut already-“

“It’s getting in his eyes, Adam,” Tommy said, pushing his bangs to the side. “It’s adorable but he’ll get pissy before long,” he pointed out.

Adam sighed. “My baby’s growing up,” he said sadly.

Tommy picked Jonah up and sat him over the side of the bed, holding onto his hands. “Walk to Dad, come on,” he encouraged and Adam smiled, holding out his hands to Jonah. Jonah took a few steps forward holding onto Tommy’s hand, letting got to reach for Adam’s. He had barely let go of Tommy’s hand and stepped twice before catching Adam’s hand, but it was something.

He’d been walking along the furniture for ages and they were trying their hardest to get him to walk without holding onto someone’s hand or the furniture, but the most he would do was a few steps.

Adam picked him up, smiling. “I love you,” he said, kissing Jonah’s cheek.

Jonah giggled. “Dada ew,” he said and Adam smiled. He’d been picking up new words left and right and his favorites were ‘dada’, ‘daddy’, ‘ew’, and most of all, ‘no’. He still hadn’t distinguished who was ‘dada’ and who was daddy but it was only to be expected.

Tommy grinned. “Dad is very ew,” he agreed and Adam glared. “I’m kidding, daddy loves dad,” he said playfully.

“TommyJoe, you are such a jerk,” Adam said, laughing.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tommy was amazed to realize how excited Adam was to give Jonah a great Christmas. “Seriously, there’s so much stuff I wanna get him!” Adam gushed as they walked through the store, noting things they wanted to buy for Jonah later while they shopped for decorations for the tree they had got. “Like did you see those little bear things?”

Tommy laughed. “Adam, he’s one kid, he doesn’t need the whole store worth of toys,” he teased. “Besides, I hope you plan on wrapping all this crap yourself, I’m not doing it,” he warned.

Adam waved a hand. “I’m great at gift-wrapping- OOH!” he cried suddenly. “We should invite Monte and Lisa and the kids over for dinner Christmas eve!” he said excitedly.

Tommy rolled his eyes affectionately, leaning into his side as Adam took over pushing the stroller for him as he carried a basket-full of lights and decorations. “You’re taking this Christmas thing seriously,” he noted, smiling up at him.

Adam shrugged, blushing slightly. “You know me, if I’m doing something, I’m going all out,” he defended.

Tommy shook his head. “I think it’s adorable,” he reassured, chuckling. “I draw the line at Christmas carols though,” he warned and Adam pouted.

“But that’s the best part!” he whined and Tommy laughed at how into the idea of ‘Christmas’ Adam was getting. “I wish we had a fireplace,” he added. “Cause then we’d have a mantel to hang stockings on!”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “We live in LA, Adam. There’s no need for a fireplace. Besides, we can just like… put them on the windowsill or something. Or just lay them under the tree with the presents,” he suggested.

Adam hummed. “We should get some stockings and have them embroidered,” he said and Tommy grinned.

“You know, you really are in the Christmas spirit for someone who’s never celebrated it full out before,” he said and Adam scoffed.

“I’ve never even considered that I could end up being woken up by an excited little boy on Christmas morning some day. This year he’s a baby, but someday I’ll be sleeping and around five in the morning I’ll get woken up by an excited little boy running and jumping on my bed because Santa came and he wants to open his presents,” he said with a dreamy look on his face. “I can put aside the fact it’s a religious holiday for a religion not my own and focus on what it truly is-“

“A ruse to rob people of their money and sanity?” Tommy prompted teasingly.

Adam shushed him. “A holiday to celebrate family and friends and general kindness to other people,” he finished. “It may suck the life and money out of a lot of people but imagining what it means for all the children who celebrate Christmas makes it worthwhile. Especially for us, since we’ve got more time and more money than a lot of families.”

Tommy just grinned. “You’re something else, Babyboy,” Tommy said as he stood on his toes and kissed Adam’s jaw. “And you’re right. Jonah may not be as into it this year, but as soon as next Christmas, he’ll be all excited and full of amazement on Christmas morning and I can’t think of anything better than seeing him happy.”

Adam sighed, leaning over to see Jonah’s face in the stroller. “Best thing ever,” he said, eyes full of love.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Adam and Tommy had spent all night decorating their Christmas tree while Jonah watched from his playpen, where he’d been placed as a safety measure, since they were dealing with glass and wires. When it was done Adam and Tommy stepped back, smiling at it. “Not what I remember as a kid, that’s for sure,” Tommy said and Adam frowned.

“Hmm, we should’ve tried to make it more kid-appealing-“

Tommy cut him off. “I think Jonah loves it no matter what,” he interrupted. “I’m just saying when I was little we had giant colorful bulbs and tinsel and shit. This is much prettier,” he promised. 

Adam smiled proudly. “For my first Christmas tree, I have to say, I think I did a good job,” he noted and Tommy smiled, both of them looking at their completed tree. It had white lights with gold and burgundy ribbons wrapped around it, as well as ornaments such as snoopy and Santa’s sleighs. “Jonah,” Adam said going to get him from his playpen. “Wanna see something awesome?” he asked, then carried him over to the tree. He leaned down and flipped a switch and Tommy laughed when the lights started twinkling and dancing along to the tune of ‘Oh Christmas Tree’ that came from the box in the back.

“You dork, I didn’t even know it did that,” Tommy said, grinning over at Adam, who sat on the couch with Jonah, both of them staring at the tree in the corner in wonder. Tommy bit his lip and walked over, wondering how his life ever ended up being so perfect as he sat beside Adam. Adam curled his free arm around Tommy and smiled down at him, leaning over to kiss his temple as Tommy cuddled into his side, holding Jonah’s hand as they all cuddled together, just watching the Christmas lights dance along to the song.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“Jonah, please,” Tommy whined, carrying him up and down the hall. “You usually sleep so well, what’s up with you the last few nights?” he asked, groaning as Jonah cried.

“Dadadada!” he whined and Tommy groaned.

“I’ve got you,” he said, kissing his head. “I promise.” As they walked past Adam’s room, Tommy cringed as Jonah’s crying got louder. He hoped they didn’t wake Adam up. After a few passes, however, he realized when Jonah cried louder, he was reaching out towards Adam’s door. “Wait,” he said, then pulled Jonah around. “You want your dad?” he asked, only to bite his lip when Jonah made grabby hands at Adam’s door. “Shit, no wonder you aren’t calming down for me,” he said, then bit his lip, looking at the door. “We shouldn’t wake Dad up, Jonah,” he tried but Jonah just ignored him, making grabby hands. “Okay, but when Dad’s grouchy, it’s your fault,” he told Jonah, who didn’t seem to give a damn what Tommy said. “I guess you don’t understand me anyways.”

He went and knocked lightly on Adam’s door and then turned the knob. As he walked in, he saw Adam stirring. “Jonah?” he grumbled tiredly. “Tommy?”

Tommy walked over, making a face. “Sorry, sorry,” he said, carrying Jonah over.

Adam propped up on his elbow and held out his hand for Jonah, who reached to him, nearly falling out of Tommy’s arms. “Hey, what’s wrong, honey?” he asked tiredly, yawning as Tommy set Jonah on the bed and he crawled to his dad, still crying. “Is he okay?” he asked, looking up at Tommy.

Tommy groaned. “I’ve been trying to get him to quiet down for a while and I finally figured out he kept crying louder and reaching out at your door,” he said and Adam smiled tiredly. 

“Awww,” he said, pulling Jonah into his arms. “Did you want Dad?” he asked, smiling.

Tommy slid into bed beside him, rolling his eyes. “I have no idea why he woke up wanting you specifically but I’m glad I figured it out. Look at him,” he said, and Adam laughed softly at the way Jonah had fallen completely quiet, comfortably nestled against Adam’s chest, looking around without a peep. “Traitor,” he said, pouting playfully.

Adam smiled, laying Jonah on the bed between him and Tommy, laying a hand Jonah’s back, rubbing soothing circles on his tiny back. “I’ve got him if you want to get some sleep,” he said and Tommy yawned.

“I am tired,” he said, leaning over to kiss Jonah. “Goodnight, buddy,” he said, sliding out of bed. He started to walk out but stopped when Jonah whined.

“Dada no!” Tommy turned back, raising an eyebrow, only to chuckle when Jonah reached out towards him. “No.”

Tommy chuckled. “I guess I’m not going anywhere,” he said, walking back to the bed. He slid in and laid curled up with Jonah between him and Adam.

Adam laughed. “I guess he wants both his parents,” he said and Tommy hummed.

“You’re not supposed to encourage separation anxiety but I’m not upsetting him,” he said and Adam shook his head.

“You’re supposed to leave him crying in his bed. Fuck that shit,” he said firmly. “I’m not leaving him to cry for me and just ignore it,” Adam stressed.

Tommy yawned. “Let’s try and sleep,” he said, curling his arm around Jonah, smiling when Adam’s hand got pinned between Jonah’s back and his chest. “Night, Dad,” he teased.

Adam chuckled. “Night, Daddy,” he replied. He then kissed Jonah’s hair. “Night baby.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When Adam woke up, he smiled as he felt warmth against his chest, cuddling closer, pressing his lips to the soft hair against his chin. “DADA!” Adam frowned, opening his eyes, only to chuckle when he realized he was cuddling and kissing on Tommy, who was asleep against his chest. He looked up and laughed when he saw Jonah sitting behind Tommy, playing with the covers. “Byebye,” he said, pulling the covers over his head.

Adam smiled. “Oh no, where’d you go?” he said softly, careful not to wake up Tommy, who was still deep asleep in his arms. Jonah pulled the covers down and laughed, clapping. “There he is,” Adam said and Jonah giggled, putting his hands over his face. 

Jonah crawled closer, crawling all over Tommy. Adam cringed when he saw little knees digging onto Tommy’s ribs and sure enough, Tommy grunted, starling awake, picking up his head in confusion. “Wha?”

“Daddy!” Jonah said, giggling as he stopped, sitting on Tommy’s side. “Daddy, dadadada,” he chanted, bouncing.

Adam chuckled, making a face. “Oh, don’t bounce on your daddy,” he said, carefully picking Jonah up to get his heels out of Tommy’s belly. “Aww, come here,” he said, rolling onto his back, settling Jonah on his chest.

Tommy whined, shifting around. “Oh God, why is he so hyper?” he whined and Adam laughed softly.

“He’s just awake and happy.” He smiled as Jonah tugged on the covers, pulling them up over his face again. “He really likes peek-a-boo,” he joked and Tommy grinned, yawning as he curled over against Adam’s shoulder.

“Where’d Jonah go?!” Tommy intoned playfully only to gasp dramatically with Jonah jerked the covers down, showing his face. “There he is!” he said and Jonah laughed, waving the covers happily. “God, I love his smile more than anything else,” he said and Adam gave him a smile.

“I know what you mean,” he said, leaning his head to rest against Tommy’s. “He’s so pretty,” he said, grinning. “He’ll be a hit with the girls some day,” he teased and Tommy chuckled.

“Hell yeah, dark hair and blue eyes and that smile? Totally a heartbreaker.” He sat up and pulled Jonah into his arms, leaning back with Jonah sitting on his tummy. “You’ll make the other boys jealous, yes you will,” he said, holding him up, smiling when Jonah flailed, kicking his feet. “I love his little hands and feet,” he said, looking over at Adam.

Adam nodded, grinning. “So cute. I wanna buy him some cute little Christmas socks,” he said and Tommy chuckled.

“You’re gonna decorate our kid more than the Christmas tree.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Christmas morning is something Tommy hadn’t thought too much about since he was little. However, both he and, especially, Adam were both very excited to watch their baby’s first Christmas morning. They both were up before Jonah and, as soon as he woke up, they eagerly carried him down and put him on the floor beside a tree with dozens of boxes beneath it. 

“Okay, so,” Tommy started, sitting beside the present pile. “Here’s what you do, Jonah,” he said, taking the first box to lay before his son. “So, you like, rip the paper,” he said, then demonstrated, grabbing the corner to tear it. Jonah looked at it curiously, then reached out, grabbing the paper. Tommy looked up at Adam and beamed when he saw the adoring look on Adam’s face when Jonah snatched the paper, giggling when it made a loud ripping sound. “Just like that,” Tommy encouraged.

Adam clapped excitedly for Jonah when he had finally ripped off all the paper. “Yay!” he cheered, then leaned over to kiss Jonah’s head. 

Tommy grinned. “You know, he has no clue what the hell he’s doing, he just knows it makes a cool sound,” he teased and Adam rolled his eyes.

“Well, after we put together all the assembly required toys and take out the ones already assembled, he’ll realize he’s suddenly got a giant pile of toys he didn’t have before, so it still works out,” he said and Tommy laughed at the way Jonah was playing with the bow on the box next to him.

“Dada!” he cried, then shoved the box towards Tommy.

Tommy grinned. “You need some help?” he asked, then tore it some before showing the beginning rip to Jonah, who eagerly grabbed the paper, squealing happily as it ripped loudly.

“Smile, TommyJoe!” Tommy looked up and blushed when he saw Adam filming him. He flipped him off instead, covering his face with his other hand. “Don’t do that, Jonah’s gonna see this someday. Do you want him to see his daddy making rude gestures at the camera on his first Christmas?” he teased.

Tommy shot him a grumpy look. “I have bed-head and ‘I’m lazy’ stubble. Jonah better be the only one seeing this,” he warned, earning a sweet smile from Adam.

“Nah, I think I’ll post it online,” he said and Tommy glared. “I’m kidding!” he cried, then giggled. “Mostly.”

“DADDY!” Tommy smiled when Adam turned the camera back to Jonah, who had crawled over, offering the purple and sparkly bow to him. “Dada!” he said and Tommy smiled, taking the bow.

“Aww, thank you, Jonah, it’s pretty,” he said, then smirked and stuck it on top of his head, making faces at Jonah, who just clapped and laughed.

“Yay!” Jonah said and Adam beamed, sharing a look with Tommy.

“I’ve never heard him say ‘yay’ before,” Adam said and Tommy nodded.

“Me neither. About time, he’s been saying variations of ‘daddy’ and his ever favorite ‘no’ and ‘yum’ and ‘baba’ and shit for ages without a new word,” he said and Adam smiled.

“Here take this and film Jonah being adorable,” he said suddenly, handing his phone to Tommy.

Tommy looked up when he walked over. “Why?” he asked and Adam winked. “Adam?”

“You’ll see!”

A few moments later, Adam came back, much to Tommy’s delight, a bass with a bow on it. “Oh dude, you didn’t,” he said and Adam beamed, sitting down beside him.

Adam smiled over the camera aimed at him. “It’s not anything massive like your birthday guitar,” he warned, then held out his hand for the camera so Tommy could pick up the bass Adam had laid on the couch.

Adam filmed Tommy kneeling to look at it, picking it up, only to gasp. “Oh Adam,” he breathed, turning to give him an adoring smile. “You’re amazing, really,” he said and Adam chuckled.

“Show the camera,” he instructed and Tommy held up the blue bass, showing the body to the camera. Just off to the side of the pick guard, airbrushed in white, were two baby handprints with the letters ‘JAL’ written above them in a jagged font, all surrounded by a heart.

“What is it with you and getting me custom instruments?” Tommy joked, then sat the bass back down on the couch, touching the airbrushing gently. “That’s so awesome, though. I have a _bass_ with my baby’s handprints on it,” he said softly, turning to smile at both Adam and the camera. “Seriously, you sort of rock but that kinda makes my ‘super epic’ present I got you seem lame,” he said and Adam chuckled.

“I don’t need anything ‘super epic’, TommyJoe, I’ve got Christmas morning with my family,” he said and Tommy rolled his eyes.

“Cheesy, Lambert,” he said, then turned back to Jonah, who was going at it, ripping up all the paper he had torn off his presents. “Great, we’ve brought out his inner destruction,” he joked and Adam laughed, leaning back against the couch beside Tommy as they watched, filmed, and commentated on Jonah’s delightful present opening. After a while, Adam turned and shot Tommy a look. “So, I heard something about presents,” he started and Tommy rolled his eyes.

“Yes, I got you something,” he said, then crawled over to grab a box all the way behind the Christmas tree, away from Jonah’s destruction. He came back and offered Adam the giant box. “Merry Christmas,” he said and Adam looked excited.

“Sweet, hold this,” he said, handing his phone to Tommy. He turned and placed the box on the floor between his legs, eagerly tearing into the paper. When he opened the cardboard box inside, he laughed. “Awww!” he said, looking up at Tommy. “TommyJoe, you are the sweetest thing,” he proclaimed before pulling out tons of cheesy ‘dad’ things. There was a coffee mug with ‘Worlds Best Dad’ on the side, a tee-shirt that read ‘#1 Dad’, and various other things along the same lines.

Tommy shrugged. “Not nearly as awesome after you showing up with an instrument but I know how much you adore all that cheesy stuff,” he said and Adam laughed, holding up a tee-shirt with a picture of two blue LIFE pegs holding the hands of a smaller blue LIFE peg between them. “Yeah, that’s just cute,” he said and Adam smiled.

“That’s probably the cutest pro-two-dads logos I’ve ever seen,” Adam agreed, then put the box aside, crawling over. “Thank you,” he said, leaning in to kiss Tommy sweetly.

Tommy chuckled, as he pulled back. “Now do you think Jonah will want a video of Christmas to involve his parents kissing?” he asked, holding the camera up to the side, aiming it at Adam’s face without backing off.

Adam shrugged. “Eh, not like he’ll never find YouTube videos of us on stage. _That_ will be way more traumatic than this-“ He leaned in and pecked Tommy’s lips sweetly.

Tommy just smiled at Adam and shook his head. “You’re insane,” he teased, then knocked their heads together lightly before turning back to watch Jonah ripping open the last of the presents under the tree excitedly.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Adam smiled when Jinx came into Jonah’s room. “Oh hey! I didn’t hear you get in,” he said and she laughed at Adam’s struggle to get Jonah in his clothes when he wouldn’t sit still.

“Tommy let me in,” she said, then walked over. “Here, lets tag-team,” she said, holding onto Jonah while Adam tried to pull his hands through his sleeves. When they finally got him clothed, Adam sighed in relief, handing him to her.

“Alright, hang out with Jinx for a little bit while Dad gets dressed then me and Daddy will come say goodbye,” he said, kissing Jonah’s head. “Fair warning,” he started, looking at Jinx. “His separation anxiety flares up sometimes. Some days it’s like he barely notices we’re there but some nights he won’t let us put him down, he just _has_ to sleep with us,” he said, giving her a shrug. “I don’t even know.”

Jinx laughed. “Aww, he’ll be fine,” she said, swapping arms. “Won’t you?” she asked and Jonah just reached out for her earring, batting at it and giggling.

Adam smiled at him, then went to finish getting dressed and finish his makeup. He walked into the bathroom and rolled his eyes at Tommy. “Stealing my bathroom, you bitch,” he grumbled and Tommy grinned, smudging his eyeliner. 

“Your lights are better,” he said, then shrugged. “You’re tall enough to do yours over me, so stop bitching,” he said, and Adam rolled his eyes.

“I need the counter, jackass,” he said, then leaned around Tommy, grabbing his makeup bag. He slipped some and Tommy gasped, dropping his eyeliner as Adam nearly squished him. “Sorry, sorry,” Adam said, curling a hand around his waist as he stepped back.

Tommy chuckled. “Much longer and you’d owe my mom two chickens and a goat, dude,” he said, smirking at Adam in the mirror.

Adam rolled his eyes. “I can’t help you were shoving your ass into my crotch,” he said, then tugged at a stray piece of hair, trying to fix it back into place.

“I wasn’t shoving my ass anywhere, your crotch attacked me,” Tommy joked and Adam laughed, swatting at him as he leaned over Tommy’s head to start on his eyeliner.

“He was just saying hello,” Adam joked and Tommy snickered.

“You are not right,” Tommy said, handing Adam his eye shadow brush without being asked. Adam smiled and thanked him, careful not to sprinkle eye shadow into Tommy’s hair. “Think Jonah’s gonna give Jinx trouble?” Tommy asked and Adam hummed.

“I hope not, but he was being a little shit for me when I was trying to get him dressed,” he acknowledged. “But he seemed fine with Jinx when I walked out,” he said, shrugging.

Tommy smiled at Adam in the mirror. “You look good,” he said, looking at Adam’s hair and eyes. “Been a while since I saw you all dressed up,” he said and Adam smiled.

“Aww, you’re so sweet,” he said, ducking down to smack a kiss to Tommy’s cheek, making him grumble and wipe at the lip gloss on his cheek. “You’re always pretty,” he said, curling his arms around Tommy affectionately.

Tommy just leaned back against Adam’s chest and smiled at him in the mirror. “Yeah, yeah, get off me so I can do my lips,” he said with a small smile.

Adam grinned, cuddling him. “You’re one of the cutest little things beside Jonah ever,” he said sweetly. “Alright, hurry so we can see Jonah for a little bit before we leave.”

“Alright, back off me so I can,” he said with a playful smile.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Jonah barely seemed to notice them leaving when they left the house most days, he was too busy playing with Jinx. They had rehearsals for a few days before his birthday, then one last break between Jonah’s and Adam’s birthdays before tour. 

For Jonah’s birthday, it seemed like _everybody_ was at their house. Adam had got a giant cake made and everybody had a lot of presents for Jonah. Tommy smiled as Jonah walked along side him into the living room, holding his hand. 

Adam beamed. “Aww, there’s my big boy!” he said and Tommy smiled, stopping to kneel down.

“Jonah, can you walk to Dad?” he asked and Jonah clapped and squealed.

“DADA!” he cried, then let go of Tommy’s hand and tottered over to Adam, who was holding out his hands for him.

“Awwww, that’s so adorable,” Leila said, smiling when Adam scooped Jonah up, making him squeal as Adam held him up over his head.

Tommy walked over and curled into Adam’s side, smiling up at Jonah, who was kicking and laughing. “FLY!” Jonah shouted and Tommy reached up and laughed when Jonah slapped his hand.

“That’s daddy’s big man,” he said and Adam lowered Jonah back down onto his lap, pushing his hair back.

“I think before we leave for tour I’ve gotta finally give in and get this cut,” he said, brushing Jonah’s bangs from his face.

Tommy smiled. “Awww, poor Adam, you really don’t want to cut his hair,” he said and Adam pouted.

“He’s a year old now. I guess I can’t keep fooling myself that he’s not growing up on me like I was with the hair,” he said, leaning in to kiss Jonah’s head.

Tommy chuckled. “Hard to think it’s been a year,” he said, and Dia sighed.

“My sweet little grandbaby is a year old,” she said and Tommy grinned.

“Just means he’s got a lot more awesome,” he said and Adam laughed, kissing Tommy’s hair as he passed him Jonah. “Seriously, dude, that tiny little baby we brought home from the hospital is already _this_ little monster!” he said, gesturing to Jonah, who was standing on his lap, reaching over towards Monte as he walked past the back of the couch. “Can you believe this tiny thing used to nearly fit in one of your hands?” he asked and Adam sighed happily, only to burst out laughing, prompting Tommy to turn around, only to grin when he saw Jonah was holding Monte’s wallet, gnawing on the worn leather.

“Dude, did you just pick Monte’s pocket?” he asked, then rolled his eyes, taking the wallet from Jonah, who looked put out at having his chew toy stolen. “Ewwy,” he said, making a face. “This goes in Uncle Monte’s pocket, you don’t wanna chew on that,” he said, then smirked as he tossed the wallet across the room to Lisa.

“You better watch out, looks like he’s taking after Tommy,” Danielle said from Adam’s side.

Adam smiled. “Yeah, he’s gonna turn out to be a little shit like his daddy if I’m not more careful,” he said and Tommy gave him an offended look.

“Hey!”

Adam rolled his eyes, curling his hand around the back of Tommy’s neck. “I’m kidding, baby,” he said, playing with his hair. “If he turns out like Daddy, he’ll be a sweet, awesome little kitty-“

“Adam!” Tommy whined, earning more evil giggles from Adam. “You, Adam Lambert, are an asshole,” he proclaimed and Adam smirked.

“I just really love teasing you,” he admitted, stealing Jonah from him. “You’re so fun to annoy.”

Tommy smirked. “It’ll be fun when I fuckin’ bite your _face_ ,” he said, play-snapping at him.

Adam rolled his eyes. “Watch the language. Jonah will repeat you,” he said and Tommy grinned.

“Jonah, can you say ‘boobies’?” he asked and Adam slapped Tommy’s arm, glaring.

“Don’t teach my son to say boobies! Oh my God,” he said, rolling his eyes in exasperation. “I cannot believe you’re trying to teach him to say bad words.”

“Hey,” Jinx said, walking in. “Who’s teaching my little buddy to say dirty things?” she asked, walking over to take Jonah from Tommy, dancing around with him.

Tommy shrugged. “I don’t see how ‘boobies’ is a bad word,” he said simply.

Jinx raised an eyebrow. “You were trying to teach him to say boobs? Why?” she asked, laughing.

Tommy grinned, tucking into Adam’s side. “Cause Adam told me to watch my language cause Jonah might repeat what I say.”

She laughed. “That’s not right,” she said, then shrugged. “I don’t think it’s a ‘bad word’ but I’d prefer you don’t. I’ll be the one taking him to the hotel room some day and we’ll pass a maid and he’ll scream ‘BOOBIES!’ and I’ll be the one getting funny looks,” she said and Tommy smirked. “No,” she stressed.

Leila snickered. “Alright, I think Eber and Neil are nearly back with the cake,” she said. “Don’t get Jonah to saying anything about breasts now or Neil might drop the cake you paid for,” she said and Adam grinned.

“TommyJoe, you thinking what I’m thinking?” he asked and Tommy smirked.

“Hey Jonah,” he said, grinning. “Can you say ‘Uncle Neil is ugly’?” he asked and Adam burst out laughing, hiding his face in Tommy’s shoulder as he laughed.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Jinx smiled as she watched Tommy and Adam re-checking the bags to be checked for Jonah’s stuffed dog, since he would need it on the plane to keep him calm. Adam was holding Jonah while Tommy dug around, earning glares from the people standing in line behind them, waiting to check their baggage and get to their flights.

“Hey, what’s taking so long?” Monte asked and Jinx smiled.

“Adam and Tommy misplaced the stuffed doggy and we all know how Jonah will get on the plane without it,” she said and Monte cringed.

“Poor bastards. Half the airport are held up because of them,” he said and Jinx laughed, watching Adam directing something and Tommy giving him dirty looks before digging in another compartment. Monte and Jinx both stood, watching the scene, laughing when they were joined by Isaac and Neil, who was going along with them on tour.

When Tommy finally resurfaced from one of his expeditions half _into_ a massive bag, he held up the dog triumphantly. They all laughed and cheered obnoxiously, only to be amused when the long line behind them clapped in relief. After apologizing to half the staff of the airport, Tommy and Adam started their way, handing the dog to Jonah. Jinx smiled when she saw Tommy slip his hand into Adam’s between them, Jonah on Adam’s opposite hip and their carry-on bags on Tommy’s back. She watched Adam smiled down at Tommy, who returned his bright smile, leaning into his side affectionately. “I swear,” she started and Monte, Isaac, and Neil all looked. “They are the cutest couple,” she said, shaking her head. “I mean, I’ve seen plenty of great families but those two are probably the first parents I’ve worked for who seemed so… in love, you know?” she said, shaking her head before walking to meet them, walking along to join them in the first class lounge before takeoff, leaving the others to wait without the four of them.

Monte hummed and Neil snorted. Isaac just turned to them. “Jinx doesn’t know they’re not _actually_ a couple?” he asked in confusion.

Neil shot him a look. “Since when have they _not_ been a couple?” he said in exasperation and Monte laughed.

“No, they just haven’t ever _realized_ they’re a couple,” he pointed out. 

Neil gave him a disbelieving look. “You do know they sleep in the same _bed_ , right? They can’t actually be that stupid.”

Monte gave him an amused smirk. “You do remember this is your brother we’re talking about, right?” he asked.

Neil blinked. “Wow, they really _are_ just that stupid, huh?” he asked and Isaac burst out laughing, shaking his head at the expression of disgust on Neil’s face.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Before tour, Adam had come home from a meeting with management and mentioned that there would be a set of videographers on tour to film some behind the scenes footage for a tour DVD at the end of tour. Everybody else had been informed as well so they could be ready for a camera following them occasionally.

Tommy, however, found it annoying that one of the guys of the three, a tall, scrawny kid named Ashton, seemed to have taken a liking to following him around. 

All. Of. The. Time.

“Hey Tommy!” Tommy looked up from his makeup mirror. 

“Yes, Ashton?” he asked, rolling his eyes at his own reflection.

“When you’re done here,” Ashton started, then nodded at his camera. “I want to get you and Monte talking about your guitars,” he said and Tommy nodded.

“Sure,” he said, then grabbed his mascara, starting on his eyelashes. He noticed Ashton watching him with a dopey look on his face and he rolled his eyes. “Domestic Partners,” he stressed and Ashton turned bright pink then shuffled away, making Tommy sigh.

Tommy finished his mascara just as Neil came in. “Yo, bitch! Your little admirer was shaking in his boots outside the door. Tell him he’s ugly?” he joked.

Tommy snorted. “Reminded him I’m taken. Poor little shit has such a hard on for me. I mean really, what the fuck?!” he asked and Neil shrugged.

“Don’t ask me, I’m not a big fairy like you,” he said and Tommy rolled his eyes.

“Your only brother is my pseudo-partner, and you really feel it necessary to insult my sexuality?” he asked and Neil snickered.

“I’m not calling you a derogatory term for a gay dude, I’m calling you a winged, glittery creature,” he teased and Tommy threw a boot at him. “So, speaking of your other half, where is my brother?” he asked.

Tommy shrugged. “He had a phone interview. He’s probably going to be rushing through his own makeup,” he said, then sighed as he finished. “Gotta go talk about my guitars with Monte for the kid with the crush,” he said and Neil smirked.

“Don’t cheat on my brother,” he said and Tommy rolled his eyes.

“Oh yeah, I’m seriously tempted by the pimply nerd,” he said sarcastically, heading out to meet Monte and Ashton.

After finding Monte, Ashton followed them over to the side-stage rack of guitars. “So, what belongs to who?” he prompted and Monte started pointing out his guitars from Tommy’s basses

“This one is actually Tommy’s,” he said and Tommy nodded.

“For one of the songs on this record we need two guitars, so a tech takes over my bass and I play rhythm,” he explained, then picked up Lucille. “This is my baby,” he said, holding the guitar up. “And it’s personalized, see?” he said, giggling as he pointed to the fret-board.

“So is your bass,” Monte pointed out and Tommy nodded, putting Lucille back to grab his favorite bass. 

“This,” he said, holding it up. “Is one of my favorites,” he said bashfully. “It has my son’s handprints and initials on the body,” he said, holding it up. He smiled, playing his fingertips along the JAL initials. “Adam got it for me for Christmas, since it was Jonah’s first Christmas,” he said, smiling shyly.

Monte chuckled. “I still like the red one better,” he said and Tommy rolled his eyes. 

“Alright, well, Monte’s gotta go do some stuff now, so… it’s just Tommy time!” Tommy said, smiling and shrugging. “You wanna come check out my stage outfit?” he asked and Ashton nodded, eyeing him in a way that was almost disturbing. He turned and started walking, knowing Ashton would follow him as he headed back into the dressing room.

When he got there, he was relieved to see both Adam and Isaac had arrived to join Neil. “Hey guys,” he said brightly as he walked in. “Say hey to the camera,” he said and Adam looked up from where he was laying out his makeup on the counter.

“Hey camera,” he joked and Tommy rolled his eyes, but walked over, slotting into the space between Adam and the wall. “What’s up, TommyJoe?” he asked.

Tommy gave him a pleading look. “Save me,” he whispered, then leaned up to kiss Adam’s cheek, tugging on his hand. “Ashton’s creeping me out,” he whispered so only Adam could hear.

Adam pulled back with a smirk. “Aww, I love you too, baby,” he said loudly, leaning down to kiss Tommy sweetly on the lips. “I gotta get ready,” he said and Tommy smiled happily, nodding before walking over to leap onto Neil, getting his boney knees and elbows everywhere he could get them.

“I. Hate. You,” Neil grunted, trying to shove him off.

“But you’re my favorite brother-in-law!” Tommy cried, laughing impishly as he clung to him. “We’re brothers, you should love me-“

“I am not your brother. I’m barely your brother-in-law. I’m still trying to prove Adam’s adopted anyways,” he said and Tommy saw Ashton filming eagerly.

Tommy rolled his eyes and flopped down beside Neil. “Sorry dude, but you look way too much alike for Adam to be adopted.”

“I do not!” Adam called from the mirror. “I do not resemble that ugly little-“

“You’re the ugly one!” Neil argued and Tommy rolled his eyes.

“You both look just like your dad!” he said plainly. “Well, Neil, you’re nearly _identical_ to Eber and Adam, you look a lot like him too. You’ve even got his hair,” he reminded him. “I’m sorry to set the record straight, but you guys _are_ clearly brothers,” he said solemnly. “I’m so sorry,” he said in mock seriousness.

Isaac grinned. “Besides, only brothers can bicker over the most pointless shit like you two,” he pointed out and Tommy nodded.

“The other day, Isaac, they were fighting over who got to put Jonah’s socks on him. I ended up having to take the baby and the socks from them and I did it myself before they realized their argument was pointless since I had already put his socks on him,” he said and Isaac laughed heartily.

“Oh your life, TommyJoe,” he said, shaking his head. “Poor bastard.”

“HEY!” came two offended voices chiming in at once.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
After the show, Adam and Tommy were wiped. They both were sure to shower at the venue so they could collect their kid and crash when they got to the hotel they were staying at before moving on to the next city. However, when they waved goodbye to Monte at their door, they walked in only to find Jonah screaming and Jinx walking around without a shirt on.

Adam yelped and cover his eyes. “Oh God my eyes!” he cried, and Tommy rolled his eyes.

“She’s wearing a bra,” he said, then frowned as he walked over to where she was pacing with him, bouncing him as he cried. “What’s wrong?” he asked and she sighed, offering him up.

“He’s sick,” she said softly. “Not sure if I fed him something or if he’s just got a virus, but he threw up on two shirts before I gave up,” she said, explaining her toplessness.

“Oh no,” Adam said, less horrified once he realized she wasn’t actually naked. “Are you okay, baby?” he asked walking over to Tommy and Jonah.

Jinx walked over to grab a shirt and tug it on. “He’s got a slight fever but it’s not bad. He’s not ‘doctor’ sick, just ‘aww poor baby’ sick,” she said.

Tommy smiled at her tired eyes. “Go ahead and get some rest, dude,” he said and Adam looked up and nodded.

“God yes, honey, you’ve earned it,” he said and she sighed.

“Thanks guys, see you in the morning,” she said, grabbing her shoes to head over to her room, not bothering to put them on as she left.

Adam shut the door behind her just in time to hear “AHH nooo, Jonah!” from behind him. He turned around to see Tommy holding Jonah at arm’s length with vomit all down his front. “Fuck, poor baby,” he said, then shook his head at Adam, who looked concerned.

“You okay?” he asked and Tommy nodded.

“Yeah, I’m gonna give him a bath,” Tommy said, placing Jonah on the floor for a minute as he carefully stripped off his shirt, cringing when some baby puke dripped onto the carpet. “Shit,” he said and Adam chuckled.

“We’re rock stars, alright,” he teased. “Throwing televisions out the window is so seventies, getting baby throw-up on the floor is totally modern.”  
Tommy just rolled his eyes and scooped Jonah up, carrying him to the bathroom without another word. “We’ll be out soon, you wanna go try and get some ice? Maybe sucking on ice will help settle his stomach,” he said and Adam nodded, going to get some ice for them.

When Adam came back, he headed into the bathroom. “TommyJoe, how’s Jonah- whoa!” Adam gasped, holding up a hand in front of his face. “God, so much nudity,” he said and Tommy laughed from his spot, sitting in the bathtub with Jonah.

“Relax, Adam. I swear, I thought you were a hippy? I figured you would be all for nudity,” he said, smiling. Tommy was sitting in the bathtub with his legs crossed and Jonah in his lap as he carefully washed his hair with the baby shampoo. 

Adam rolled his eyes, blocking all but Tommy’s face with the hand in front of him. “Yeah, well maybe with some warning,” he said and Tommy rolled his eyes once again.

“Adam, we’ve been friends for years now. I doubt there’s any way you haven’t seen me naked before, I really don’t care,” he said pointedly, rinsing Jonah’s hair with water in his cupped hand. 

“Tommy, I’ve barely seen your chest before,” Adam pointed out, though he lowered his hands, leaning against the counter. “You sort of hate showing skin.”

Tommy shrugged. “Well, Jonah and I both had puke on us and I sort of don’t give two shits if you see me naked when our kid is sick,” he said simply, kissing Jonah’s wet hair when it was rinsed clean. Jonah was still whimpering but he was more calm in the warm water, curled against his dad’s chest.

Adam cringed. “God, he looks so pitiful,” he said and Tommy nodded with a sad look as he held Jonah in his lap. After a little while, Tommy pulled the drain and let Adam take Jonah and wrap him with a towel to take him out and get him re-dressed while Tommy showered off the soapy water.

When Tommy came out, he cringed when he saw Adam lying on the bed beside a crying Jonah, who was curled up with his teary face turned towards his dad. He pulled on a shirt and walked over to lie on the bed on the other side, turned towards his sick, crying baby. “Jonah, I’m so sorry you feel bad,” Tommy whispered, laying his hand on his little back.

Adam looked nearly in tears as Jonah cried feebly, clearly wiped out but still in pain. “I tried giving him some ice but he didn’t want it. His little tummy must hurt so bad,” he said softly. Tommy just shook his head and kissed Jonah’s head, curling up beside him. Adam slid closer and wrapped an arm around Tommy and Jonah together, leaning his head against Jonah’s as he hummed to him, trying to help the ill baby get to sleep.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When Adam woke up, it was to Tommy muttering his name and shoving Jonah into his arms roughly, much more roughly than Adam ever expected Tommy to handle Jonah, only to look around sleepily and see Tommy sprinting for the bathroom. Jonah was crying again, face red. Adam looked at the clock and groaned when he saw it was five AM. All night, Jonah had been up and down, crying and sleeping. He hadn’t thrown up again, but he’d had some monster diaper-fillers. He was a very ill child. Adam had last fallen asleep to Tommy going into the bathroom with Jonah, hoping Adam could sleep a little since he was the one who had to do the most work. Adam loved Tommy’s consideration, but he had no clue what the hell Tommy was at when he shoved Jonah at him so roughly.

Adam got up, holding Jonah as he approached the bathroom. “Tommy, why did you just shove Jonah-“ he stopped outside the half-shut door, however, when he heard retching. “Oh no,” he said weakly. He looked at Jonah and sighed, shaking his head. “I better not have whatever you and Daddy have caught,” he said and Jonah just whimpered pitifully against his shoulder.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tommy, it turned out, was almost a bigger whiner than Jonah. “Adaammm, rub my tummy,” he whimpered, pouting up at Adam.

Adam rolled his eyes. “Jonah’s stomach is still running off, I’m trying to keep him hydrated, I don’t have _time_ to rub your tummy, TommyJoe,” he said, pacing with Jonah, who was having some water from his favorite sippy cup. He didn’t seem to be nearly as pained, but Adam didn’t take any chances.

“Get Jinx to do it,” Tommy said and Adam snorted.

“Jinx deserves to sleep in after getting puked on last night. We’ve got bus call in just over an hour and I’m not waking her up until she’s gotta get packed to go,” he refused.

“But it _hurts_ ,” Tommy said, pouting up him, brown eyes wide and glassy.

Adam smiled sadly. “I’m sorry Glitterbaby, but I just can’t baby you both at once. Would you rather I put Jonah down and let him cry?” he asked and Tommy sighed.

“No,” he said roughly. He blinked. “Oooh, tell Cam I’m dying and my last wish is for her to come rub my tummy topless,” he said and Adam rolled his eyes.

“You’re a shit,” he said with a small smile. Tommy smiled tiredly.

“Right back at ya, Babyboy.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Adam got a bus for tour just for him, Tommy, Jonah, and Jinx since Jonah would be a handful in a tour bus. Tommy and Adam had the bed in the back while they had turned the bottom of the two bunks into a baby-prison of sorts with a mesh guard-rail stretched across the side so Jonah couldn’t fall out and Jinx could sleep in the bunk above him. Adam had been paranoid the first few nights, but all in all the only problems occurred when Jonah managed to get out himself and wound up digging through Jinx’s bag, which she kept on the floor at night in case she needed something.

However, the door between the two rooms was paper thin and between Tommy tossing and turning with a sour stomach and Jonah crying over his lingering effects of the virus, sleeping was not something Adam had the luxury of doing.

“Tommy, please,” Adam grumbled, rolling over half on top of Tommy, wrapping an arm around him to catch his arms against his chest. “Stop,” he begged.

“Sorry,” Tommy sighed, shoulders heaving. “I just feel like shit.”

Adam groaned and slid his hand between Tommy’s arms and his middle and rubbed his belly. “You still feel sick?”

Tommy moaned pitifully. “Yes. I haven’t thrown up in a while but my stomach hurts so bad.

Adam kissed his shoulder and pulled him back against his chest, rubbing soothing circles on Tommy’s tummy. “I’m sorry, TommyJoe. I wish you would feel better.”

Tommy leaned back into his hold and relaxed. “I’m sorry I’m annoying.”

Adam just grumbled sleepily. “Not,” he said, then shushed Tommy. “Sleepy.”

They were both nearly asleep, however, when Jonah started crying again. They both groaned when they heard the thud of Jinx getting out of her bunk to attend to Jonah. “Why did this happen to us _now_?!” Tommy whined and Adam just shook his head.

“Just try and get a little sleep, we’ve got an interview in the morning before sound check after lunch.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When the busses pulled in at the venue, Adam and Tommy quietly got ready, leaving Jinx asleep on the couch in the front lounge, where she and Jonah had both passed out. When they stumbled down the stairs and met Lane, Monte, Isaac, and Cam, all bright eyed and bushy-tailed and ready for their performance with cheerful greetings, Tommy just whimpered and leaned into Adam’s side. “Kill them, kill them dead, please,” he begged, hiding his face in Adam’s collar.

Adam just sighed, eyelids still feeling heavy. “I’m too tired to kill them, just throw up on them and they’ll stop being so fucking happy lookin’,” he said, leaning on Tommy a little.

Everybody took a big step backwards at the words. “Ew, Tommy’s still barfy?!” Monte asked, then made a finger-cross at them. “Plague, get away.”

“Nah, I’ve kept it in for a good ten hours now,” Tommy said. “We just haven’t slept,” he said and Adam nodded.

“Jonah was up crying half the night and the rest of the night, Tommy was tossing and turning and I was stuck rubbing his tummy to try and get him to sleep,” he said, yawning widely. “Can we please, please have coffee?” he asked and Tommy whined.

“And a gun?” he added and Adam laughed almost hysterically, closer to tears than laughter.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Adam smiled as, in the car back to the venue from the interview and performance, Tommy fell asleep against his arm. He pulled him against his chest and kissed his head, holding him steady so he didn’t fall over as he took a little nap. Tommy hummed tiredly but snuggled closer to the warmth of Adam’s chest, hand fisting in his shirt in his sleep.

Monte smirked and Adam raised an eyebrow. “You two are so stupid,” he said, shaking his head. Adam glared and he waved a hand. “How’s he really doing? He sorta covers how sick he is sometimes.”

Adam sighed. “He lied about not throwing up. I heard him in there this morning, he was just trying to be quiet so he didn’t wake up Jonah and Jinx. Jonah wasn’t this bad for this long. He was fine most of the night as far as throwing up goes, he was just fussy and kept Jinx up, and us most of the night.” He pressed his lips to Tommy’s head, less of a kiss and more holding him close. “I worry about Tommy being sick longer than a _baby_. His immune system sucks ass and I know he sucks at looking after himself. He’ll throw himself into it on stage tonight on barely any sleep and barely any food because he’s throwing it all up.” He looked up. “No beer for him tonight, okay? I don’t know if he’ll try and get one, but he needs water, not beer.”

Monte nodded. “Yes, dad, I’ll help you mother-hen your husband-“

“Don’t do that, we’re not married,” he said, making a face. “It just sounds weird.”

“May as well be,” Monte said, shrugging. “You guys are a great couple, even without the whole ‘actually romantically involved’ shit. First year as parents is a rough patch for most couples who ARE actually in love,” he pointed out. “You guys compromise and take care of each other so well,” he said with a fond smile. “Me and Lisa got at each other’s throats when the sleep deprivation kicked in and you guys always take sleep deprivation as some key to take care of each other as well. It’s really awesome.”

Adam shrugged. “We do get into arguments and stuff, but I guess when Tommy’s so laid back, he’s learned to roll with my bitchy side and he lays off. He’d rather avoid conflict. You and Lisa seem to be laid back with everybody else and save the arguments for each other since you know it’ll all blow over without any lasting damage.”

Monte chuckled. “Yeah, that’s one thing I can say, whenever we do argue it’s not like either of us mean it,” he said. “I guess it’s mostly she needs an outlet and I feel bad for being gone so much that I let her start a fight and we get it out of our systems.”

Adam chuckled. “Tommy is the most laid back person ever. He hardly ever seems to need an outlet and I’m too afraid of hurting his feelings to say anything mean to him. He would probably take it fine, but he’s got the ‘kicked puppy’ thing down and it sort of kills me,” he said softly, afraid of waking Tommy. Monte just gave him a look and Adam rolled his eyes. “It isn’t like that.”

“The lady doth protest-“ Adam glared and Monte burst into snickers, biting his fist to keep from waking Tommy up.

“I just love my friends and family about as much as a man can and he’s both,” he said defensively, brushing his lips against Tommy’s temple sweetly.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Adam was doing some fan-questions for an interview for a website and, as he waited for them to screen the comments he would be answering, he checked his phone. Tommy was still a little ill and Jonah had eaten a big meal for the first time since he got sick and he’d thrown up again. Jinx and Adam were both still fine but Tommy and Jonah were fighting day-three of their stomach virus.

_jonah’s finally sleeping. we got him some baby-version pedialyte and monte threatened to put me on and iv if i didn’t drink some gatorade so when you get back my mouth will be red from the fruity gatorade_

“Adam.” He looked up and smiled for the lady. “We’re ready to get started,” she said and Adam put his phone away. “Alright, we cleared some comments with fan questions and they’ll appear on the screen after we edit it, so when I ask you, just answer to the camera,” she instructed and he nodded.

“Alright.”

She cleared her throat and began asking questions. Most of them were standard, some were about other celebrities, but a few were new and unique to the current tour. “Why aren’t you doing the on-stage kisses this tour?”

Adam smiled. “Tommy’s gross now,” he joked and chuckled. “No, a lot of people have asked on twitter and such, but to be honest, it’s the same reason we’re not using the dancers this tour. This album is more rock n’ roll than before. The kiss was never meant to be something that was repeated, it just stuck because I liked how people reacted and we thought it was fun and funny. But all of that was before I ended up getting together with Tommy and now we’re parents.” He rolled his eyes. “When you hit thirty and have a baby, I think that’s when you hang up your exhibitionist hats, you know?” he asked, giggling. “It just doesn’t feel as much like entertainment to kiss the other father of my child on stage, it’s just too normal now.”

She smiled. “Alright, now, how do you like touring with your son with you? Is it harder or easier than you expected.”

Adam cringed. “It’s been about what I expected for the most part, but the last few days both Jonah and Tommy have been sick so it’s pretty rough right now. It’s not easy touring with a baby, but I’m far from regretting the decision, even with them sick.” He shook his head. “I couldn’t imagine leaving him at home and touring. And if Jonah wasn’t with us, Tommy wouldn’t be touring either. He was either going to quit the band or us bring Jonah with us, so if we hadn’t brought him, I would have had to get used to a whole new bassist.”

The lady was opening her mouth to ask another question when Adam’s phone buzzed. He tried to ignore it, but it was a call, not a text, as it kept buzzing. It wasn’t live filming and he knew a call had to be important, so he asked for a moment then answered his phone. “Monte?”

“Adam, I know you’re busy, and I don’t want to freak you out, but Tommy and Jonah are going to the hospital’s clinic to see what the hell they’ve got-“

“HOSPITAL?!” Adam cried in fear.

“No, the clinic, doctor’s office is a better word, but it’s at the hospital, which is why I said that. They’re not any worse, nothing like that, Tommy’s just really worried about Jonah because he’s sick worse today than yesterday and Tommy’s not getting better and usually these viruses last only about a day, not three. Don’t freak out, I just wanted you to know first in case someone saw them and rumors started. Last I needed was for you to get a tweet about Tommy going to the hospital and freak out.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When Adam got back to the hotel, he was glad to see Tommy laying on the bed with Jonah, who was asleep on his chest. “Hey,” he said softly, walking over.

Tommy smiled. “Hey dude,” he said and Adam sat down on the side of the bed, stroking a hand over Jonah’s back. “We’re fine,” he said and Adam sighed.

“What’s up?” he asked and Tommy rolled his eyes.

“I said ‘we’ve been sick for three days now’ and the doctor said ‘don’t worry until you’re sick more than a week’,” he said with a grumpy look.

Adam cringed. “A week? That sucks a lot.”

Tommy nodded, pouting. “He just said drink a lot of Gatorade for me and Pedialyte for Jonah. No fevers means we’re not contagious anymore, but it still sucks. I feel better and I think Jonah’s a little better, but my stomach still feels like it hates me and I can’t imagine he’s much better.”

Adam leaned over and kissed Tommy’s forehead. “I’m sorry, Glitterbaby,” he whispered, brushing his bags out of his face. “You look so pitiful, I just wanna cuddle you,” he said and Tommy gave him a tired smile.

“Eh, worry about the baby, not me,” he said, shrugging.

Adam shook his head. “Both of you,” he said, stroking Tommy’s hair out of his eyes soothingly. Tommy’s eyelids fluttered and he leaned into Adam’s touch. “Get some rest, we’ll do sound check without you today. I’ll send someone to get you later tonight closer to show time.”

Tommy nodded. “You sure?” he asked and Adam nodded. “M’kay, do you have time to stay till I fall asleep?” he asked hopefully.

Adam nodded, moving to lie down beside him. “Sure thing, TommyJoe,” he said, lying on his side to face Tommy and Jonah. He played with Tommy’s hair and hummed softly, barely audibly, watching Tommy’s tense muscles relax slowly until he finally fell asleep.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When Tommy ambled in, looking sleepy, Adam jumped up from his spot talking with Neil. “Hey Glitterbaby,” he said, walking over to him. Tommy just smiled and slid his arms around Adam, cuddling into his chest. “You okay?” Adam asked, kissing the top of his head.

“I’m fine. I’m just sorta basically crummy still,” Tommy said, tilting his head up so his forehead was resting on Adam’s chin. “You manage without me?”

Adam nodded, turning to kiss Tommy’s forehead. “Yeah, how’s Jonah?” he asked in concern.

“He’s good, he was playing when Jinx when I left so he must feel a little better at least,” Tommy said and Adam nodded, swaying them in place. “Mmm, no, I’ll fall asleep,” Tommy said, wiggling out of Adam’s arms with an apologetic sigh.

Adam just nodded. “Sorry, I just worry,” he said and Tommy gave him a tired smile before standing on his tiptoes to peck Adam’s lips.

“I know you do, Adam,” he said softly and Adam felt an odd jerk somewhere behind his sternum at the soft look in the sleepy brown eyes looking up at him. His name had never sounded sweeter of anybody else’s lips.

Adam watched as Tommy walked over to the couch and gasped softly as he realized exactly how screwed he was.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
On stage, they had stopped the dramatic kisses and rehearsed touches and stuff, but Adam still couldn’t help himself when it came to just grabbing a handful of hair and practically directing Tommy how he wanted him. Tommy, for his part, still couldn’t stop leaning into Adam and rubbing his face all over his shoulders and tipping his head back across Adam’s back when they were back to back. 

Another thing Tommy really enjoyed was smacking Adam on his ass when he walked past. Adam squeaked and glared when it was picked up on the microphone. Adam laughed when Tommy stuck his tongue out triumphantly, rolling his eyes as they started the next song.

When it came time for band introductions, Adam slung his arm around Tommy’s shoulders, guiding him up some. “And on the bass, we’ve got the bad little kitty-“ Tommy poked him, glaring. “Mr. TommyJoe Ratliff!” he said, then held onto him. “Everybody, TommyJoe’s been pretty sick for a few days, so everybody say ‘get well, kitty!’,” he said, grinning. “Ready, set-“ Tommy ducked his head and blushed when everybody shouted ‘GET WELL, KITTY’ at him.

When they got off stage, Adam forcing bottles of Gatorade on Tommy the whole way to the dressing room, Tommy turned to him. “You are such an asshole,” he said and Adam grinned.

“You love it,” he teased and Tommy sighed.

“It’s a sad, sad day that I admit, you are ridiculously cute when you’re embarrassing the fuck out of me,” he said and Adam smirked.

“Why thank you, TommyJoe, you’re ridiculously cute all the time,” he accused, kissing his cheek sweetly. “Speaking of sick kitties, are you feeling like a nap?” he asked and Tommy shrugged.

“I’m feeling basically okay really. Tired but I think if I eat something I’ll feel a lot better,” he said.

Adam smiled. “Good,” he said, then stroked Tommy’s hair out of his face. Tommy gave him a warm, happy smile and curled into him, letting Adam walk him back to the dressing room. 

Tommy sat down and snagged a protein bar from Adam’s bag, snacking on it while Adam took a shower to get the stage sweat off of him. Neil and Monte were up to something in the corner that involved a lot of arm-waving and giggling, but Tommy really didn’t want to ask. He sighed when he heard the shower shut off and smiled, waiting for Adam to come out and snuggle with him.

However, he was startled out of his thoughts as Lane burst in. “ADAM!” she cried and Tommy jerked. She looked around and spotted Tommy. “Tommy!” she cried, rushing over. “Come on, get up-“

“What?!” he asked, eyes widening.

Lane cringed. “Jinx just got me on the phone-“

Tommy felt his heart drop into his stomach. “What’s wrong?!” he demanded, jumping up to grab her arms. “Lane, TELL ME WHAT’S WRONG-“

“Jonah’s really sick, Tommy, really, really sick,” she said and Tommy felt his entire body shaking. “Jinx said he’d been alright, and he was playing with her and he just started throwing up and running off and he started getting so weak and she said he could barely lift his head to drink from his cup and even when he did, he just threw it back up-“

“ADAM!” Tommy shouted, rushing to bang on the door to the bathroom. “Adam, come on!” he cried, then turned around and ran to grab his shoes and tug them on. “Oh God, where is he?!” he asked and Lane gave him a helpless look.

“Jinx panicked and took him to the hospital. She was too scared of how weak he was to wait for you-“

“No, that’s good, that’s-“ he nodded. “That’s really good, babies get dehydrated faster-“

“What’s wrong?!” Adam cried, eyes wide as he struggled into his shirt, still wet from the shower. “What is that about babies getting dehydrated-“

Tommy caught Adam’s wrist. “Don’t freak out,” he started and Adam’s eyes widened more. “Jonah’s really sick, Adam,” he said and he watched Adam panic the same way he had.

“What do you mean really sick?” he asked, clutching at Tommy’s arms.

Tommy felt sick as he thought about the words he had to say. “Jinx was playing with him when we left, but he started throwing up again. He was throwing up and his stomach was running off and he was getting too weak to drink more and he threw it up when he did, so she panicked and too him to the hospital,” he said and he felt his throat tightening when he saw Adam’s skin lose all color. “It’s okay, we’re going there now-“

“Then let’s go,” he said, grabbing his shoes. He struggled to slip them on, not bothering to tie them or wear socks, before grabbing Tommy’s wrist. “Come on!” he said and Lane nodded.

“I’ve got a car outside,” she said and Neil bounced over, digging around Adam’s bag, only to produce his wallet.

“Here, you may need to prove who you are to go in with him,” he said and Adam let out a distressed sound, hugging Neil quickly. “Dude, get off me and let’s go!” Neil said, shoving Adam and Tommy towards the door.

“You’re coming?” Tommy asked over his shoulder and Neil scoffed.

“He’s my nephew, what the fuck do you think?” he asked, and they all broke into a jog, careful to avoid the various people as they ran to find the car waiting on them.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When they got to the hospital and were directed to the pediatric ward, they were a little surprised to see Jinx having a pretty heated argument with a couple of nurses. Tommy just heard Jinx in time to stop her from getting herself into some trouble.

“Listen lady, you’re gonna let me in that room or I’ll _make you_ let me in!” she snapped, and Tommy saw her drawing back. 

“NO!” he cried, rushing over to grab Jinx around the middle, catching her elbow mid-flight. “Stop, Jinx, chill-“

“TOMMY!” she cried, turning in his hold to hug him. “They won’t let me in with him, he needs me to look after him-“

Tommy could see she was freaking out. “Shhh, we’re here, we’re his parents, we’ll take care of him now,” he said and she nodded, her short hair (purple this week) standing on end, as though she’d been tugging on it. He left his arm around her waist as he looked at the pretty annoyed looking nurses. “I’m Tommy Ratliff, I’m Jonah’s father,” he said and the woman to the left snorted.

“My name is Jill and like I explained to her, Jonah is going to be alright,” she said and Tommy nodded. “He’s not alright _now_ but there’s absolutely no reason he shouldn’t be fine.”

Adam stepped up. “What happened?” he asked and Tommy could see a flash of recognition cross the women’s faces.

“It’s just a virus,” she explained. “He probably was okay for the first few days but then when he started feeling better, it just struck again. If he could keep the fluids down it wouldn’t be a problem, but as it is we’ve got him hooked up to an IV. He should be perfectly fine, but we want to keep him overnight at the very least.”

Adam slid his hand into Tommy’s and Tommy felt him shaking. “Can we see him now?”

She nodded. “Of course,” she said, leading them past. Tommy grabbed Jinx’s hand and tugged her with them. “It’s just we have to have his parents,” she said and Tommy nodded.

What Tommy didn’t expect, however, was for Adam to pretty much break down when they saw Jonah. He let go of Jinx’s hand and grabbed Adam around the waist as he slumped against Tommy, bursting into tears. “Shhh, Adam, Adam, come on, he’s okay,” he said, staggering some under Adam’s waist. “Adam, dude, I can’t hold you up,” he said and Adam just cried as he looked at Jonah, who was so sallow and tiny in the crib they had placed him in. “Neil-“ Tommy cast desperately and Neil was there, grabbing Adam around the middle.

“Adam, Adam fucking breathe, dude,” he said as he helped Tommy hold his brother up.

Tommy sighed, torn between wanting to calm Adam down and wanting to go over to poor little Jonah, who had an IV in him and looked so ill. “Adam, look at me,” he said, reaching up to cup Adam’s cheek. “Be strong for Jonah. Calm down and breathe.” Tommy squeezed his hand, then turned away, letting Neil calm Adam down as he walked over to lean in to check on Jonah.

“Hey buddy,” he said, looking at how pale he looked. “Poor baby,” he whispered, reaching down to stroke his hair. “Daddy knows how it feels,” he said, biting his lip. He could feel his own eyes tearing up as he saw how sick his baby was. “Fuck, Jonah,” he sighed, reaching down to stroke a finger across his cheek.

Adam slid up behind him and Tommy saw he was more composed, though still crying silently. Tommy grabbed his hand and laced their fingers together, leaning back against his chest. “He’s okay,” he said and Adam nodded, resting his chin on Tommy’s shoulder, arms twisting around his waist. Tommy held Adam’s fingers in his, sighing. “He looks so bad,” he whispered.

Adam nodded, sniffling. “I don’t like him looking so ill,” he said, whimpering. “Our baby,” he cried softly and Tommy nodded, leaning his temple against Adam’s chin. 

“I know, Adam, I know.”

Adam just cried weakly, shaking as he clung to Tommy. “My _baby_.”

Tommy could see Jinx watching them with a lost expression, clearly freaked out still from having to take Jonah to the hospital. Neil just looked kind of awkward and worried about everybody as he stood in the corner, looking around at Jonah, Adam and Tommy, and Jinx.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When Jonah woke up, he looked around, then spotted Tommy, who was sitting next to him. “Daddy,” he said in a small voice and Tommy’s head jerked up and he smiled, reaching out to hold Jonah’s hand.

“Hey my big man,” he said, standing up to lean in and kiss Jonah. He was so weak he could barely sit up when he tried. “No, lay down, baby,” he said, trying to get him to lay back down.

“Dada!” he said, holding out his arms, only to stop and look at the one with the IV in it. Tommy saw it had been wrapped up really good so he couldn’t pull it out, but he still picked at the wrapping, looking grumpy at something being on his arm.

“No, leave that alone, buddy,” Tommy said, tugging his fingers off of the wrapping. He wanted nothing more than to pick him up, but the IV line wasn’t long enough and he was still on fluids at least until he was able to keep down some fluids.

The door opened and Tommy looked up to see Jinx walking in. Jinx, Adam, and Neil had all left to go get some breakfast, though it had taken some coaxing to get Adam to go with them and leave Jonah. She smiled when she saw Jonah sitting up. “Hey dude!” she said, rushing over. Tommy knew she loved him to death after a few months with them. “Aww, you’re a lot less pale, that’s for sure,” she said, leaning in to kiss his head, making him whine and wipe his face comically. “Sweet little thing,” she said, then sighed. “God I’m so glad he’s okay.”

Tommy nodded. “I know what you mean,” he said, looping an arm around her middle. “I was fucking terrified when they told me he was so sick he had to be put in the hospital. I thought I was going to pass out.”

She groaned, leaning into his side, laying her head on his shoulder. “You have no idea. He was so sick and weak and he kept just laying there. He could barely roll over to puke and I was so scared.”

Tommy pulled her into a proper hug, rubbing her back as she shook. “He’s okay now, dude. That’s all that matters,” he said and she nodded, arms around his shoulders as she slowed her breathing again.

The door opened and Tommy looked up to see Adam and Neil walking in. he stopped and looked at Tommy and Jinx, and Tommy beamed. “Adam!” He said, gently easing Jinx away. “Look-“

“DADA!” Adam’s face jerked over to Jonah, and Tommy watched his face split into the brightes smile ever as he rushed over to Jonah.

“Jonah!” he cried, then rushed past Tommy and Jinx to lean over into the crib, hugging Jonah as best he could. “Oh God, Dad loves you,” he said in a rush, looking into his baby’s big blue eyes. “Oh Jonah, I love you so much.”

Tommy laughed. “Look who’s up,” he finished and Adam just laughed, standing up again, holding Jonah’s hand. “He woke up just a few minutes ago.”

Neil walked over, smiling brightly. “Hey dude,” he said, holding out his hand, laughing when Jonah high-fived him weakly. Jonah laid down, babbling some. “You okay?” Neil asked, ruffling Jonah’s hair.

Tommy smiled sadly. “He’s still very weak,” he said and Neil nodded.

Adam saw him picking at his arm and stopped. “No, don’t do that, baby,” he said, patting his hand lightly, pulling it away. “No no, Jonah.” He sighed and turned to Tommy, looking exhausted. “You should go get you some dinner now,” he said and Tommy nodded.

“Look after our baby while I’m gone,” he said, hugging Adam close before he turned to leave.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When Tommy got back, Jinx and Neil were gone and Adam was sitting beside Jonah’s crib, talking to him as he held his tiny hand. “And I never thought I’d get to be a Dad,” he said and Tommy felt a pang as he heard tears in Adam’s voice. “And then me and Daddy got you, and you’re our everything, Jonah,” he said, sniffling. “And when Daddy told me you were so sick you were in the hospital, I thought I was going to _die_ because you’re my baby and I love you and it took so long for me to get you and I was so scared something would happen and- and I can’t lose you already,” he squeaked out and Tommy felt his throat closing and his eyes tearing as he watched Adam’s shoulders shaking. “I can’t ever lose you, Jonah. You don’t have to be made from me, you were made _for_ me. You are my baby. You were always supposed to be my baby. Even when I didn’t know about you, you were meant to be mine when you got here. I know it. God made you for me and I can’t lose you, I can’t. You were so sick and it scared me so bad-“

Tommy just walked over, startling Adam when he noticed Tommy walking over. Tommy blinked back tears as he slid into Adam’s lap, curling his arms around him. “Shhhh,” he whispered, and Adam curled around him, sniffling into his shoulder. “He’s fine, Babyboy.”

“But what if he wasn’t?” Adam sobbed weakly and Tommy started to realize just how much it had scared Adam. “What if something happens to him, Tommy. I can’t lose him, he’s my baby!”

Tommy sighed. “He’s my baby too, dude. I was scared but he’s _okay_ ,” he soothed, kissing Adam’s head.

Adam just sniffled, still shaking. “I just… I guess I can’t escape worrying about the possibilities. I know he’s okay, but I still keep thinking about the ‘what if’s. I’ve always said people who worried about the what if’s were stupid, but now I can’t stop,” he admitted.

Tommy smiled. “You’re a parent, okay? Parents worry. It’s what we do. I’m just a pretty realistic dude. When they said ‘he’ll be okay’ I believe them. He’s just dehydrated. He isn’t going to die or lose a limb or something when he’s in a hospital and on an IV-“

“Hey, I read one time about a baby-“

Tommy covered his mouth. “Don’t tell me something that will make me just as freaked out as you,” he said with narrowed eyes and Adam giggled into his palm.

“Alright,” he said, then let Tommy shift so he was facing the crib, sideways on Adam’s lap.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
After getting out of the hospital, it was still a few more days before both Tommy and Jonah were back to one-hundred percent, but as soon as they were, they were a handful together. Instead of going out to clubs, more often than not, post-show hang outs involved a twenty-four hour diner or the hotel’s restaurant. 

The funniest part was how often waitresses assumed Jonah was Neil’s.

After one night, one that was meant to be on the buses, found them at a greasy spoon diner in the middle of _nowhere_ and nobody could remember what state they were even in. “I think it’s Wyoming,” Tommy said and Jinx shot him a disbelieving look.

“Then where are the mountains?” she asked. “I say Montana,” she said and Neil shook his head.

“It’s not cold enough, I’m pretty sure we’re in Utah.” He made a face. “Well, maybe, I would say seventy-five percent sure.”

Monte hummed. “Then where are the twelve wives and pregnant thirteen year old girls?” he asked and Adam gaped.

“Monte that is so rude! I’m sure not all of Utah is Mormon and even then, I’m sure most Mormons don’t have twelve wives or abuse little girls,” he chastised. “Shame on you for promoting stereotypes.”

“They’re made into stereotypes for a reason, dude,” Monte said pointedly.

Tommy smirked. “Except how stereotypically, Adam would be all demanding and bossy and… oh wait!” he said in mock surprise and Adam rolled his eyes, shoving him.

“I’m not a diva.”

“You are so a diva,” Tommy argued, nudging his shoulder. “Isn’t he a diva, Jonah?” he asked, reaching out to ruffle Jonah’s hair. Jonah giggled and grabbed Tommy’s bracelet.

“Daddy, shine!” he said, tugging on Tommy’s jingly bracelet.

“Yeah, Daddy’s bracelet is shiny,” Tommy said, then took it off, handing it to Jonah to play with. “You’re so pretty,” Tommy said, smiling as Jonah chewed on his bracelet, then offered it to Neil, who made a face.

“No, dude, you keep it,” he said, pushing it back when Jonah held it out to him.

When the waitress woke up, she looked at Jonah in his high chair and smiled at Neil. “Awww, is he yours?” she asked with a big smile.

Neil grumbled. “No,” he said, then scoffed. “Why does everybody assume I’m his dad?!” he hissed at Jinx, who was to his left.

Tommy chuckled. “Because you’re young and look more like an acceptable dad than…” he looked around the large booth and chuckled. “Everybody.”

Adam laughed. “And you’re the last person at this table I’d trust to be a parent,” he teased, earning a certain finger waved in his direction. He turned to the waitress. “He’s ours,” he said, sliding his arm around Tommy’s shoulders.

She blinked, clearly confused. “Yours…” she suddenly seemed to realize, then flushed, looking down. “Um, can I take anybody’s order?” she asked, looking away from the two of them.

Tommy rolled his eyes, huffing, and Adam just curled his fingers into the back of Tommy’s hair, scratching at the back of his neck lightly. Once they had all ordered, Tommy shifted, making a small, whiny noise as he pressed his head back. “Adaaam,” he whined and Adam grinned.

“Kitty,” he teased and Tommy shivered as Adam scratched at the hair behind his ear.

“Stooop!” he whined, batting Adam’s hand away. “Besides, asshat waitress is probably watching,” he said and Adam chuckled.

“I’m used to people being jerks, why can’t you learn to just accept it and ignore it?” he asked. “Could be worse, pretty sure it’s not illegal wherever we are to refuse service to us,” he pointed out.

Tommy gave him a horrified look. “They can still _do_ that?!”

Adam nodded. “A lot of places can. It’s terrible but legal.”

Tommy groaned. “Eurgh I hate people.” Adam just kissed his temple, letting his arm rest across the back of Tommy’s seat. 

“Nee! NEE!” Tommy turned to look at Jonah, snickering when he realized what ‘nee’ was as he saw Jonah trying his best to give Neil Tommy’s bracelet.

“Awww,” Adam said, smiling. “Jonah, are you trying to say Uncle Neil?” he asked and Neil looked slightly off put at being called a body part.

“No,” Neil said, leaning over to tap Jonah’s leg. “That’s a knee. I’m Uncle _Neil_.”

Jonah just smiled. “NEE!” he cried, pushing the bracelet into the hand on his leg.

Neil just sighed and took the slobbery bracelet, holding it up by two fingers. “Thank you Jonah,” he said, and then offered it to Tommy, who chuckled and put it in his pocket.

“I’ve got a double cheese burger with extra fries?” They looked up and saw a different waitress, a much older one, standing there balancing plates all over.

Tommy held up his hand. “That’s mine,” he said and Adam shot him a disgusted look as he took his plate and made a happy noise when he squished the burger and extra juices oozed out with gooey cheese.

“I’ve got a club sandwich, no mayo, extra lettuce?” she asked and Adam held up his hand, taking the plate from her.

Tommy scoffed at his plate and Adam rolled his eyes. “When I’m a single father because you kick it at the age of forty, you’ll think twice about how you’ve eaten your whole life,” he said and Tommy rolled his eyes, obnoxiously shoving about eight fries into his mouth, moaning obscenely.

The waitress chuckled. “Alright, kids,” she teased and Tommy smiled. “What about you, sweetheart?” she asked Jonah, who looked up at her. “They didn’t get you nothing?” she asked and Tommy laughed.

“He’s got his own baby food to eat,” he said, then mock-whispered. “And some of daddy’s dessert later,” he teased and Adam rolled his eyes.

“You’re making our baby fat,” he proclaimed and Tommy just rolled his eyes.

“He’s a baby, he deserves better food than peas,” he said and Adam shook his head.

The waitress smiled at Jonah before walking off and Neil hummed. “Odd, the old lady didn’t seem at all bothered by the fact you two were bickering over your sons eating habits but the young one did.”

Tommy shrugged. “Old ladies love babies, she probably didn’t pay any attention to us. Hell, she might’ve even thought I’m a girl and you were Daddy,” he said, winking at Neil.

Neil just flipped him off and turned to Jonah. “You look nothing like me,” he hissed and Jonah babbled some before reaching out to steal one of Neil’s French fries, chewing on it happily.

Tommy laughed but cringed. “Baby, I doubt grease is good for your little tummy,” he said, taking the fry away from Jonah. “I know it’s yummy, but wait till you’re older and you can handle the fat and grease,” he said and Adam looked horrified.

“Or until he’s older and we teach him better eating habits-“

“I _live_ on grease, Adam. Do you really think he’s not going to eat junk? He’s a boy and he lives with me,” he said and Adam huffed.

“And when he’s an obese little boy, we’ll know who to blame,” he said and Tommy smiled.

“He’ll be all cute and chubby like you-“

“BITCH!” Adam hissed and Tommy grinned as everybody laughed and Adam mimed strangling him.

Jinx just smiled. “Don’t worry, baby, I’ll take good care of Jonah when your man kills you,” she said and Tommy laughed, leaning into Adam’s side.

“Hear that, Adam? Jinx will be your husband when I’m gone,” he said and Adam made a face.

“No thanks, I’m good,” he said and a general quiet descended as everybody started eating. Adam, however, couldn’t get over the way Jinx so casually called Tommy ‘baby’. He was the only one that usually called him ‘baby’.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Adam woke up alone and cold and left the bed to go in search of something warm. He pulled on a long sleeved shirt and headed up to the lounge, only to raise an eyebrow when he saw Tommy, Jonah, and Jinx all curled up under a blanket. “Adam!” Tommy said, looking up in surprise. Jinx looked up from her spot with her head on Tommy’s shoulder and smiled.

“Come join our cuddle party!” she said and Jonah screamed, holding out his hands to Adam.

“Dadadadadaaaaa!” he cried and Adam smiled tightly, picking him up from his spot curled between Tommy and Jinx.

“How’s my wittle man handling the cold?” he asked, snuggling Jonah close.

“Shockingly,” Tommy said curled closer to Jinx now that Jonah wasn’t between them. “Better than we are,” he said and Jinx nodded.

“It’s fuckin’ cold,” she said, tucking her nose into Tommy’s neck, making him squeal and shove her away.

“Get your cold ass nose off me, woman!” he cried, laughing. “Adam, you’re warm, come cuddle me!” he said, making grabby hands at him.

Adam yawned. “It’s still dark outside, how about you come back to bed instead?” he asked, snuggling Jonah. “Jinx can snuggle this little furnace,” he said, amazed at how _warm_ Jonah was.

Tommy smirked. “Trying to get me all alone, huh?” he teased and Adam laughed.

“Yes, Tommy, I’m trying to trick you into bed with me,” he said, rolling his eyes. “But really, we need to get some more sleep.”

Tommy sighed. “You’re right,” he said, then took a breath before sliding out from under the covers, only to squeak and rush over to Adam, flinging himself against him. “Warm, warm, warm, make me warm!”

Adam laughed. “Here, Jinx, you can cuddle Jonah. He’s pretty warm,” he said and she took the baby with a happy sigh, snuggling him.

“Warm and smells nicer than Tommy,” she teased, kissing Jonah’s hair. “Say night-night to Dad and Daddy,” she directed Jonah and he just looked at them, then turned and laid his head on Jinx’s chest.

Tommy snickered. “Lucky little shit. Snuggling tits all the time,” he joked and Adam laughed, wrapping his arms around him.

“Alright, lets sleep some more,” he said, tugging Tommy until they shuffle-walked back to their bed, not really interested in separating and losing the body heat.

Tommy slid into the bed and groaned, making grabby hands at Adam, who laughed and slid into the bed, curling up beside him. “Naked,” Tommy said, tugging Adam’s shirt up his belly.

“Tommy!” he squeaked, sucking in his tummy when Tommy’s cold fingers touched his skin. “No, I’m not getting naked-“

“Warmer that way,” Tommy said obstinately, unzipping his own hoodie, wiggling out of it before sliding over to curl into Adam’s broad chest, sighing as he pushed his hands under Adam’s shirt again.

Adam snorted. “Putting your cold fingers all over me,” he said, then slid his hands up the back of Tommy’s tee-shirt, making him squeak adorably. “Only fair, Glitterbaby.”

Tommy hummed, tucking his cold nose against Adam’s collar bone. “You’re the best heater ever. I’ll be your teddy bear for life if you’ll be my heater forever,” he said affectionately.

Adam smiled, kissing Tommy’s head. “I already signed on to be your heater forever, baby.” 

“Fine, I’ll be your teddy bear for life then.” Tommy sighed. “Adam, you’re the best cuddler ever,” he said sleepily. 

Adam smirked. “You’re the most cuddly boy I’ve ever had in my bed, that’s for sure.”

Tommy whined. “Don’t bring up the exes and various sluts when I’m trying to snuggle with my Adam. Adams are special,” he said, and Adam laughed softly, watching Tommy’s hair flutter near his lips. 

“Why are Adams special?” he asked.

Tommy hummed. “Everybody deserves an Adam. Adam is a good name. Most boys named Adam are pretty. And my Adam is big and snuggly and _warm_.”

Adam just kissed his hair. “You are the funniest little thing, Tommy. Now be quiet and let’s sleep.”

Tommy nodded. “M’kay,” he mumbled sleepily and then slid his leg over Adam’s hip, curling closer.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“I’m bored,” Adam whined, pouting at Tommy as they waited for the rain to stop so they could get started with sound check. The show was outdoors and it wasn’t meant to rain but another half hour, so they were to put off sound check until the rain stopped.

Tommy looked up from his lap. “Me too, entertain me,” he said, batting his eyelashes.

“I’d blow you but I’m too bored,” he said and Tommy snickered.

“You keep joking about blowing me, one day I’ll take you up on the offer,” he joked and Adam laughed. “Oh!” Tommy said, smirking. “Let’s play Hump, Hate, Heart!” he said and everybody looked at him like he was crazy.

“I don’t want in on your creepy sex games,” Isaac said and Tommy giggled.

“No, dude… like… You name who you’d sleep with, who you’d hate, and who you’d love out of the people in the room. You have to pick one of each,” he said and Adam laughed.

“You’re insane,” he said. “And about twelve,” he teased and Tommy smirked.

“Fine, you go first then!” he said and Adam snickered.

“Okay, I’d fuck Isaac, love Monte, and hate Neil,” he said and Neil rolled his eyes.

“Why would you hate me?! Why not hate… Cam,” he said and Cam elbowed him.

Adam chuckled, playing with Tommy’s hair. “Because I like her, you’re evil devil spawn masquerading as my brother.” He poked Tommy. “What about you?” he asked.

Tommy looked around then smirked. “I’d bang Cam-“

“No surprise there,” Cam said, rolling her eyes.

Tommy giggled. “Then I’d love Neil-“

“THE HELL YOU COULD!”

“And I’d hate Isaac because he’s a dirty, dirty underwear stealing slut,” he said and Isaac shrugged.

“Nobody else is the same size as me. I needed clean boxers. Blow me,” he said, smirking. “Besides, why wouldn’t you love Adam? He’s the one you gotta live with.”

Tommy shrugged. “As long as we’ve been not-married, you don’t have to love each other anymore, just gotta live with each other.”

Neil raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been not-married a year and a half. You’ve got a pretty shitty idea on how long people love each other,” he joked and Adam poked Tommy.

“You better love me a lot more than a year and a half,” he threatened and Tommy grinned.

“Of course I do, you’re my better half,” he said and Adam rolled his eyes. “But we’re not actually in love-“ He promptly ignored the curious snorts all around the room. “I can love you as my Adam a lot longer than I’d have to love you as my not-husband.”

Adam stroked his hair back. “Were you even awake that night you were explaining to me why everybody needed an Adam?”

Tommy flushed. “Oh God, what did I say?” he asked, sitting up, looking horrified.

Adam smiled. “You were mumbling about how Adam is a great name and most people named Adam are pretty, but how your Adam was the best because I’m big and broad and warm,” he teased and Tommy groaned.

“Oh my God, my sleepy brain.” Tommy hid his face in Adam’s neck as everybody laughed at him.

“Awwww, ‘your’ Adam,” Monte teased, fluttering his eyelashes teasingly.

Tommy flipped him off. “Fuck off, you’re just jealous you don’t have an Adam,” he joked, leaning back against Adam’s chest. “It was really cold and Adam’s better than any space heater or electric blanket ever,” he said, snuggling into Adam’s arms as they came around his waist. “It’s like lying next to the _sun_ ,” he said, sighing happily. “And he gets a little cuddly teddy bear in return.”

Adam grinned. “Jonah’s still a better cuddle buddy,” he argued and Tommy shrugged.

“True, but that kid’s like a mini-sun. I swear, as warm as he runs, he’ll probably grow up to be a big man, because big dudes are always warmer,” he said. “It’s just fact.” 

Isaac eyed Neil. “Hmmm, you know, it was awfully cold on the bus last night…” He wiggled his eyebrows at Neil, and Neil flinched away.

“HELL no!”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tommy and Neil had found it amusing Adam’s interview du jour was a celebrity parents interview for a parenting blog, but Adam found it all very exciting. He’d had enough questions asked about Jonah when he was meant to be talking about the music, but an interview about life as a parent for a parenting blog sounded fun and like a great way to help some expecting parents.

When he sat down to be interviewed his interviewer, Trish, had everything ready. “So, how old is your son?” she started and he smiled.

“Jonah’s fifteen months this week,” he said and she smiled.

“Aww, how does it feel to know your baby’s growing up?” she asked and he groaned.

“I feel like it’s too fast. He’s my little man but I swear I just brought him home from the hospital yesterday,” he offered, making a face.

She laughed. “So, you adopted your son as a newborn?” 

Adam nodded. “We were paired up with a woman preparing a pre-birth adoption deal. We couldn’t know he was ours until he was born and she hadn’t changed her mind, but she didn’t. We were allowed to be there at the hospital and meet him just after he was born,” he said, smiling brightly at the memory.

“If you were adopting him from birth, why did you choose not to have a surrogate birth?” she asked, clearly interested. “There had to be some woman who would accept your money to carry your child.”

Adam shook his head. “I’d never pay someone to have my child. And I had a friend offer! My best friend told me she would have a baby for me and I was so touched but I didn’t want it,” he admitted. “We knew it was the right thing to do to adopt because there are so many children already out there that need families. And we didn’t specifically plan for birth-adoption, we’d had matches with toddlers and such before but it just never worked out.”

“By we, you mean your partner, Tommy Ratliff, am I correct?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said with a small smile. “At first, I was going to adopt a baby on my own. Tommy and I weren’t even living together, we’d only been together a short while, and I wanted a baby but I didn’t want to pressure him into it with me. My idea was that I would adopt my baby and if Tommy was able to handle dating me as a father, later on he would end up assuming the step-parent role or something.” He shrugged. “After a few tries and fails he seemed to really understand how much it meant to me. He started to get more involved and I’ve always known he’s amazing with children and loves kids to death, but he started to want to go into this together, and we decided the best thing to do is adopt together. The process that was finally working out, Jonah, had a snag because the woman’s only request was that her baby be adopted by a stable couple and our case worker suggested that we should become legal domestic partners to adopt, so we did,” he said, shrugging. “It was only weeks later Jonah was born.”

“How is it now, over a year later?” she asked. “I mean, has your partner come through with responsibility or is he just sort of the ‘fun’ one who leaves all the responsibilities to you?” 

Adam made a dramatic sigh, rolling his eyes in mock exhaustion. “God, he’s amazing,” he said heavily. “You just cannot imagine how glad I am we adopted Jonah together. I could’ve never done this alone. I thought I could, and I guess I WOULD have, but seriously, my hat goes off to single parents because even together we’ve had our work cut out.”

“Is it harder being a parent than you expected?” she asked.

Adam hummed. “Well, not really. I mean, we’ve both spent so much time with other people’s children so we were prepared. We weren’t like new parents flying by the seats of our pants, we had experience with newborns, it was just the after stuff that was tricky. We didn’t have much experience with when to swap to baby food, not just bottles and how to deal with different anxieties babies go through. But all in all, I think we’ve both been naturals so it’s not really harder than we thought, it’s just hard in general. No amount of preparation and experience can make it easy to be a parent.”

“Would you say one of you is more laid back than the other? Does one of you take a more involved role or do you share your involvement pretty equally?” she asked.

Adam chuckled. “Well, for the most part we’re both pretty much equally involved, have been from the start, but I could see Tommy being fully capable of doing it on his own. I’d never make him or want him to, we work together as a family, but he’s so strong,” he said, shaking his head. “Like I said, he’s an amazing father and I’m lucky to have him. Recently, he and Jonah both caught a virus and I was out of my mind worried about both of them, but he went out of his way to try and hide how sick he really was so I would let him take care of Jonah while I rested. He’s always doing that. He’ll go out of his way to make sure I get more sleep because I do the most as far as being Adam Lambert versus playing bass for Adam Lambert, which is bullshit if I’m honest, he’s just as hardworking as I am, but he still tries to take care of me all the time,” he said, then waved a hand. “Anyways, he was lying about how sick he was, I knew it, but he knew I’d be even more worried if I knew how sick he really was. And on top of it all, when Jonah got even worse and had to be hospitalized for a day or two from the dehydration, Tommy was so strong through that and I just broke down,” he admitted. “From the minute they told me our nanny had taken Jonah to the hospital, I was just useless. When we got to the hospital and I saw Jonah with an IV in his arm, I just broke down and cried and nearly fainted and Tommy stayed strong and he was able to keep his own emotions in check to make sure I was okay and worry about Jonah all at the same time.” He smiled. “So yeah, if either of us were to take more involvement, it would be him, definitely. I just don’t let him if I can help it.”

“What are the most shocking responses you’ve gotten about you and your partner adopting? I know there has to be a lot of hate, but is there anything you didn’t expect?” she asked.

Adam thought, then snapped. “You know, I expected a lot of hate about gay men adopting a baby together, all the ‘family’ groups and shit, but you know what really threw me?” he asked, then pointed. “An article about me and Tommy as parents and why it was bad, not because we were a same-sex family, but because we’re men,” he said. “I was really shocked by that. I’m not downplaying the importance of moms, moms have all my sympathy after being a parent myself, but the amount of focus on the mother’s role in this society is really biased. The article said lesbians are fine because two women is possibly the best alternative to a mom and a dad, even better than a single mother, but it put single fathers and two men down as incompetent. That really bothered me. I mean, I’m not some ‘male-dominance’ bastard, I just don’t think having the ability to bear children magically makes you a better parent,” he said matter-of-factly. “I respect mothers, I have an amazing mom myself, but there is no reason why Tommy and I aren’t just as good of parents as any other parents out there. And I really didn’t like their putdown of single fathers. A single parent is one of the most under-respected things a person can be, I have so much respect for single parents after being a parent for a year, and to hear that article say a man can’t raise a child without a woman around just shocked me. It’s the twenty-first century. It’s about damn time gender-relegation stopped being such a big deal. My parents didn’t divorce until me and my brother were grown up but either of them would’ve been just as good as the other at being a single parent if they needed to be.”

She smiled. “So, other than annoying people and your son being ill, how is touring with a child?” she asked.

Adam sighed. “Hard, but worth it,” he said honestly. “It’s so hard. We’re the least rock-star band ever now. I don’t think a single person on tour’s gotten drunk so far because Tommy and I are straight back to get Jonah and we all end up going out somewhere family friend with him in tow, and it’s hard when he’s being fussy about all the travel, or when he’s just plain hyper, but I cannot imagine touring without him. Never in a million years.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Adam pouted as he watched Tommy and Jinx playing with Jonah while he, Lane, Monte, and Neil all stood at the check-in desk. “Neil, do you think Jinx is pretty?” he asked, face propped in his hand, elbow on the desk sullenly.

Neil raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, she’s gorgeous, why?”

Adam sighed. “I think Tommy really likes her,” he said dejectedly. “They hang out all the time and like… I know she’s pretty but I thought maybe it was just me. I mean, she’s not exactly the smallest, thinnest girl you know? She’s not fat at all, but she’s just… a large person.”

“Well she’s almost taller than Tommy and she’s a little broader, but she’s not that big,” Neil said, shrugging. “I think she’s pretty hot. I mean, her boobs are a little small for how wide she is, but she’s still really pretty in the face,” he offered.

Adam slumped. “I thought so.”

Neil just rolled his eyes. “Your husband isn’t going to leave you for a pretty girl. He’s had a lot hotter girls to leave you for-“

“NEIL!” Adam cried, then walked away, pouting. “And he’s not my husband!” he shouted over his shoulder, stalking off to the elevator in a huff.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Ashton was following Tommy around filming. “So what are you doing now?” he asked and Tommy rolled his eyes, opening the door to the bus. 

“Going to see my kid for a little while since sound check is over and the show isn’t for a few hours,” he said, grumbling when Ashton followed him. He walked into the lounge and sighed when he saw Jonah hanging out with Neil and Jinx. “Jonah!” he cried and Jonah looked up.

“Daddy! Shoes, daddy!” he cried, toddling over, holding up one of Adam’s boots. “Big!”

Tommy beamed, kneeling down right there. “Yeah, Dad’s got big feet, doesn’t he?” he asked, kissing Jonah as he took the proffered boot.

“You,” Jonah said, pointing at Tommy’s feet when he moved to sit on his butt, legs crossed.

“You want me to wear Dad’s shoes or do you want my shoes?” Tommy asked, untying his creepers obediently. “They’re dirty, so don’t put it in your mouth,” he said, handing it to Jonah.

“You!” Jonah insisted, hefting Adam’s boot, which he then dropped on Tommy’s lap.

Tommy snickered. “Alright, I’ll put on Dad’s boots,” he said, obliging Jonah as he tugged on his the boot, then held up his leg, showing Jonah how big it was. “Look at Daddy’s little ol’ feet,” he said and Jonah giggled, clapping happily. Tommy just grinned. “He is the most easily amused child ever,” he said, looking up at Neil.

Neil rolled his eyes. “Well of course he is, he’s your and my brother’s kid. Adam was so fucking ADD as a kid you could guarantee he was only interested in something until he spotted something shiny.”

Tommy smiled. “Aww, that’s so sweet.” He hummed. “And it explains so much!” He glanced up and grumbled when he spotted Ashton still filming silently. “Speaking of Dad, where is Adam?” he asked Jinx and Neil.

“He should be back soon,” Neil said, shooting Ashton a pointed look.

Jinx just smiled. “Of course he will, he wants to see Jonah too, he told me this morning that he didn’t want to play tonight if he can’t play with Jonah first.”

Tommy smiled affectionately. “He loves his baby,” he said, then squeaked when Jonah grabbed the foot with Adam’s boot on it and yanked, nearly tugging him over. “Jonah!” he cried, scooping the baby up. “You are a sneaky little thing,” he said, holding him up and Jonah just giggled and gave him the sweetest smile, chewing on his fingers innocently.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Adam was just finishing his eyeliner when Tommy came rushing up. “Don’t ask questions, just kiss me,” he hissed and Adam frowned.

“Wha-MMMPH!” he grunted as Tommy stood on his toes and kissed him hard. He caught up with the program and curled his arms around Tommy, kissing him back. “What’re we doing?” he hissed as they parted for breath and Tommy jerked his head at Ashton, who was following him around. “Grr,” Adam said, then smirked. “Watch this,” he whispered, then kissed Tommy slowly, dipping him backwards. Tommy squeaked against his lips, but moaned as Adam lapped into his mouth in a way he hadn’t done since the last time they made out on stage over a year ago. He held onto Adam, not at all afraid of being dropped as Adam dipped him back.

“WHOA!” They pulled apart, giggling at Monte’s cry of surprise. “My eyes!” he cried, covering his face.

Neil looked up as he walked in and groaned. “Ew,” he said and Adam sighed, smiling happily.

“I haven’t kissed you like that in a long time,” he said and Tommy giggled, slightly lightheaded.

“Mmmm, that was nice,” Tommy said with a small smile, standing on his toes to kiss Adam’s lips chastely. “I always forget how good of a kisser you are,” he said and Adam grinned, still holding him around his waist.

“Somebody’s working overtime tonight, huh?” Cam teased. “Poor Jinx, it’s a bus night,” she said and Adam rolled his eyes as Tommy smirked.

“Psh, I wish,” he said and Adam swatted him on the ass. “Adam!” he squeaked, laughing as he walked away and flopped down beside Neil. “Don’t you hate that you’re not as hot as him?” he teased and Neil snorted.

“I don’t really envy my brother. He’s fat, his dude is short, and his kid is loud,” he said.

Tommy just grinned. “And he’s gonna put his foot up your ass if he hears you say he’s fat again,” he said, then smirked when he heard Adam’s indignant ‘WHAT?!’ from the mirrors.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Adam smiled gleefully as he Jonah flopped down on Tommy’s back, squealing and giggling as Tommy pushed up on his knees and started crawling around in the limited space with Jonah sitting on his back. “Daddy’s a pony!” Tommy said, tossing his bangs playfully until Adam was nearly in stitches. Jinx was watching them from the other side of the lounge and Tommy turned and crawled back past them, only to have Adam snag Jonah off his back when he passed.

“Whoa, horsey, we don’t want any little heads meeting table corners,” he said reluctantly, putting Jonah back on the floor. Tommy turned and settled against the couch Jinx was on, looking up at her.

“I think he’s right,” he said and Jinx laughed, rolling her eyes as she reached out to fix Tommy’s hair.

“So when are you going to let me take you blue?” she asked and Tommy shrugged.

“I did pink once. I liked it. Adam likes it blond though,” he said, smiling across at Adam as Jinx combed her fingers through his hair. “You like showing off your little blond boys,” he teased and Adam rolled his eyes.

“I’ve had two serious relationships with brunettes, one with a blond, and then you, the white-haired boy. If anything, I’d be more statistically likely to show you off if you were brown haired,” he pointed out and Tommy smirked.

“Naturally I am though, so I’m the best of both worlds!”

Adam smiled. “You’re the best looking of any guy I’ve ever been with, no doubt.”

Tommy smirked proudly, leaning back against Jinx’s thigh, sighing as she continued to play with his hair. “Don’t tell Cheeks, he’ll be forever depressed you think there’s a person alive prettier.”

Adam rolled his eyes. “He’d think I was just lying to make you feel better, that narcissistic little bitch. Or he’d say it’s only because you look sort of like him or something.”

Tommy smiled. “He fully believes in your ‘type’. He told me once at the very start, when I’d barely met him, that I was either going to break your heart or keep it safe.”

Adam was surprised. “Really? I didn’t even gush about you that much-“

“HA!” Tommy said, smirking up at him. “Monte told me you told everybody all about ‘my new bassist, the pretty one with the tattoos!’ and how awesome I was,” he said, winking.

Adam blushed but didn’t look away. “I feel no shame. I was simply stating truth!”

Jinx nodded. “Damn straight. You’re prettier than me and I’m the girl in this bus!” she said and Tommy smiled up at her.

“Aww, you’re beautiful, dude. I’m not _that_ pretty,” he said, closing his eyes, pressing into the fingers combing through his hair.

Adam just ignored the swell of jealousy he felt as Tommy turned into a ‘kitty’ for someone that wasn’t him.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Adam’s jealousy turned into anger when he saw Jinx wearing Tommy’s favorite hoodie, it grew into resentment when he saw how she made Tommy laugh, and it expanded into guilt when everybody else clearly adored her, yet he couldn’t just be happy everybody had a friend and he had a great nanny.

Everything, however, changed the night he had went to an after party briefly, just for appearances, and returned to the hotel two hours after everybody else, only to round a corner and see something that made his entire body freeze.

Down the hallway, towards his and Tommy’s room, Tommy and Jinx stood in the hallway, wrapped up in each other’s arms. Adam felt his breath catch, his throat close, and his heart shatter as he watched the way Tommy held Jinx, her face pressed into his neck, his chin resting against her hair as he held her close, his thin but deceivingly strong arms cradling her carefully.

Adam felt like his world was falling apart when she lifted her head and Tommy kissed her forehead before she could straighten all the way up, looking pretty must straight into his eyes, as they were about the same height. Adam watched them lean their foreheads together, whispering to each other, with a feeling not unlike he had swallowed a black hole and was imploding, ready to disappear altogether.

Adam had known for a long time that what he felt for Tommy was more than ‘best friend who is my co-father’. It may have started that way, but watching Tommy with their son and living with him and sharing a life with him had made Adam fall harder than he could’ve ever imagined he would.

And watching Tommy whispering to Jinx, foreheads leaned together, hurt worse than anything he had ever felt before. A broken heart had no comparison to the feeling of witnessing the moment a family breaks apart. When Jinx and Tommy nodded to each other and stepped apart, Adam quickly darted back around the corner, careful not to be seen. He waited until he heard a set of ‘goodnight’s and a door shut before rounding the corner, lost in his own thoughts momentarily.

The moment ended, however, when he spotted Jinx coming his way. He felt an ill sense of _rage_ filling his lungs like fire to a dragon and he set his stride, lifted his chin, and stalked towards her purposefully. She saw him and gave him a smile. “Hey Adam-“

“You listen and you listen good,” he started, voice low and angry. She jumped slightly at his tone and at the heat in his eyes. Adam used his size as an advantage, looming over her. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re playing at you little homewrecking slut, but you need to back off of my husband,” he hissed angrily.

She frowned. “What? Adam, what are you talking about?!” she asked, stepping back some.

“Don’t play dumb, you know what I mean!” Adam hissed. “I’ve seen you two the last few weeks and it’s fucking disgusting that you would do that shit in front of me! If you value your job you will leave my husband alone and stop trying to tear my family apart, bitch!” he spouted angrily.

Jinx just gave him a terrified look. “Adam, why would I be trying to tear apart your family?! Why do you think I’m-“

“Because you two look at each other like fucking teenagers and I’m sick of playing the fool who doesn’t _know_ he’s being cheated on!” Adam said furiously. “So shut the fuck up, back the fuck off, and get your slutty little paws off of MY husband!” he snapped, then turned to stalk away, not at all interested in dealing with Tommy or exposing Jonah to them fighting.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
By the time Adam decided where to go, he was nearly in tears. He finally settled on the last person who could probably help but the one person who he knew would at least have his back.

When the door opened, Neil took one look at him and rolled his eyes. “What did you do now?” he asked, stepping back to let Adam in. Adam looked up and chuckled when he saw the mess in Neil’s room.

“You really enjoy being on your own, don’t you?” he teased and Neil shrugged, flopping onto the bed he was clearly sleeping in.

“I’m the only person not sharing, I may as well make use of it,” he said simply. “So, why’re you all pale and sniffly?” he asked and Adam felt his stomach clench.

“I just don’t want to be around anybody right now,” he said and Neil shot him a pointed look. “You don’t count. You’ve seen me about as bad as I can get, you won’t judge me,” he said, blinking quickly as the tears started.

Neil sighed and sat up, facing Adam across the gaps between the beds. “Of course I judge you, probably harder than anybody else, but for shit like being the less attractive brother, or the biggest pussy, not for crying,” he said, crossing his legs. “That just brings out the ‘somebody made my big brother cry’ part of me.”

Adam just slumped over, putting his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands as his shoulders shook. “I don’t have any right to be upset,” he choked out and Neil scoffed.

“Bullshit. You don’t cry easily.” He paused. “Well you do, but over sissy shit, like The Notebook or weddings,” he clarified. “Something tells me this isn’t like that.”

Adam shook his head, whimpering. “Tommy’s cheating on me with Jinx,” he said weakly. “And I know I can’t be pissed at that. I know he’s just my best friend. He’s basically straight, you know? He just agreed to this so we could have a child and it’s not his fault I fell in love with him anyways, but-“ He let out a soft sob. “It hurts so much,” he admitted through his tears.

Neil just stared. 

And stared longer.

And finally slapped himself in the face and groaned. “Oh my God you are so fucking stupid,” he said exasperatedly. “How, God, how did you give me such an idiot for an older brother?!” he asked.

Adam looked up, offended. “Excuse the fuck out of me for falling for _another_ straight boy! It’s not so fucking easy for me, damn it! And he agreed! He agreed at the start he was in this for good, just me and Jonah, no fucking women!” he said angrily, though his tears still fell. “He- he promised!” he said, shoulders shaking. “He promised, Neil!”

Neil just sighed, shaking his head. “Adam, seriously just-“

“I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT!” Adam snapped, sniffling. “Just- fuck, can I just sleep here?” he asked and Neil snorted but nodded.

“Sure, sleep here. Don’t listen to my advice, just be a stubborn ass and sleep here!” he said sarcastically, then stalked off into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him with a snap.

Adam just turned and laid across the bed he was on, not at all caring he was getting make up all over the pillow he tugged into his arms to cry into.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The following morning, Adam took the long walk to his and Tommy’s room in slow steps, not at all desperate to see Tommy after what he witnessed the night before. When he got in, however, he was surprised to see Tommy pacing, talking on the phone to someone. “No, I still can’t find him! Fuck, Isaac, where the fuck did he go-“ He turned and stopped mid sentence. “Oh, he’s here,” he said, then hung up, stalking up to Adam. “You have a lot of fucking explaining to do, you dick!” Tommy said, clearly angry.

Adam raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”

“Hell yeah!” Tommy said, glowering. “Mostly, you didn’t come back last night, I was fucking worried out of my mind. Second, did you seriously call Jinx a slut?!” he asked, eyes narrowed.

Adam glowered. “Yeah, I called her a slut,” he said, stalking up to Tommy. “A home wrecking little whore! I fucking know about you two, okay?!” he snarled, then looked around. “Wait, where’s Jonah?”

Tommy snorted. “Jinx and Cam took him down to find some cheerios for breakfast, you think I’d be shouting if he was here?!” he asked, the waved a hand. “And what the fuck do you mean ‘about us two’? Us two what?” he asked, looking perplexed and pissed off.

Adam growled in his throat. “I know you’re cheating on me with Jinx, Tommy, don’t play dumb. And sure, whatever, it’s not ‘cheating’ since we’re fake-together anyways, it’s my fault for falling in love with you, whatever we have a family together and you agreed to this shit from the start. You could’ve at least had the decency to go ‘hey Adam, I’m going to screw around with the nanny’ so I could at least find somebody else to fuck on the side myself!” he said viciously.

Tommy’s eyes flashed. “The hell you’re fucking somebody on the side!” he said, looking outraged. “And what do you mean ‘screw the nanny’?! SERIOUSLY?!” he cried and Adam fought back more tears. “Adam, are you fucking stupid?!”

“APPARANTLY SO!” Adam cried suddenly, feeling his emotions catching up with him as tears filled his eyes and he slumped down, sitting on the foot of the bed. “I can’t do this. I can’t handle this! I can’t!” he cried, putting his face in his hands again.

“Adam? Adam, baby, what are you doing?” Tommy asked, tugging his hands away gently. “Babyboy, why’re you crying?” he asked, looking afraid as he looked into Adam’s tear-filled eyes.

“Why does this keep happening to me?” he asked weakly and wetly, looking up at Tommy with eyes full of pain. “Why does nobody want me?” He shook his head, wiping his eyes. “Why doesn’t anybody ever want to keep me?” he all but whispered.

Tommy just pulled Adam’s head against his chest, kissing his hair. “Shhhh, Adam, what is going on? I don’t understand what happened. Are you okay? Did somebody say something-“

“I can’t even keep a _fake_ boyfriend!” he sobbed, clutching at Tommy’s shirt. “I’m not even good enough for that. All the pretty boys get sick of me and cheat on me or leave me or-“

“Why do you keep saying something about me and Jinx, Adam?” he asked and Adam scoffed, shoving him back. “Adam!”

“I saw you! I’ve been seeing you!” Adam cried, looking up at Tommy angrily. “You fucking- fucking hang all over her and you let her play with your hair and you call each other sickening pet names in front of me and I’ve seen the way you look at her and- and last night I saw you! You were holding her right in the hall!” he said bitterly. “Fucking kissed her hair and holding her the way _I_ hold you!” he hissed. Tommy just stared for a while before bursting into giggles, which only pissed Adam off worse. “What?!”

“Oh my God, Adam, you are such an idiot it hurts-“ Tommy choked out, red in the face with laughter.

Adam pouted. “Why does everybody keep saying that?!” he asked, frustrated.

Tommy caught his breath and rolled his eyes, smiling. “Adam,” he said, clearly amused. “I’m _not_ cheating on you with anybody,” he said firmly, then snickered. “And if it was gonna happen, it wouldn’t be her, dude. You are the gayest person I’ve ever met to have the _worst_ gaydar ever,” he said, fighting tears of laughter. “Jinx is a hardcore lesbian, Adam!” he said and Adam frowned.

“She’s what?”

Tommy snorted. “Oh my God, I thought even _you_ knew that! EVERYBODY knows that! Fuck she’s more butch than I am, Adam!” he said, falling to the bed as he clutched his belly in laughter. “Oh holy shit you’re the dumbest person when it comes to that shit, dude,” he said, shaking his head..

Adam just pouted. “But… but… what happened last night?” he asked, clearly confused.

Tommy sat up on his knees next to Adam. “Adam, she found out her ex cheated on her and she was upset. She was the one that left but she was really fucked up to know her ex cheated while they were still together.”

Adam just frowned. “Her ex girlfriend cheated on her?” he asked and Tommy nodded. 

“She was talking to me and I was comforting her. Oh my God, you are insane,” he said, then smirked when realization dawned on Adam and he slowly turned bright pink.

“Oh,” he said stupidly.

Tommy smiled suddenly, trapping Adam’s hand against the bed. “So… what was that about ‘falling in love with me’?” he asked, and Adam paled suddenly. “No, hey, hey-“ Tommy shook his head, leaning his chin on Adam’s shoulder, shushing him as he started to panic. “I fell in love with you a while ago, dude. No idea how or when, but like… it’s hard to share a life together and not fall for you. I just didn’t want to complicate things by telling you. I mean, okay, eventually I’m sure I would’ve, but other than sex, I’ve been sharing my life with you just like I would if you were more than just my best friend-slash-fake husband-thing,” he said and Adam smiled shyly.

“Really?” he asked and Tommy nodded. “Oh… so I can say ‘TommyJoe, I love you’ and that’s okay?” he asked nervously and Tommy nodded, smiling.

“Yep, cause I love you too, Adam,” he said, then grinned playfully. “You can even kiss me if you feel so persuaded,” he teased and Adam rolled his eyes, then leaned in to kiss Tommy quickly.

“Jerk.”

Tommy smiled. “You know it, babe.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When it came time to go to the buses, Adam came up to Jinx, biting his lip sheepishly. “Um, I sorta owe you a massive apology,” he said, cheeks coloring unevenly.

Cam popped up over Jinx’s shoulder. “What, for calling her a slut?” she asked, glaring.

Adam cringed. “So, I’ve sorta just thought for the last month or so that you were kinda maybe sneaking around with Tommy,” he admitted and Jinx just raised an eyebrow, smirking.

“Well he’s pretty and shit, but unless you didn’t notice, he’s got the wrong equipment,” she said and Adam groaned, making a face.

“I had no idea you were a lesbian. I mean, you’re kinda butch but Tommy’s pretty feminine and he’s straight,” he said, then frowned. “Well, maybe not, but he _was_ ,” he stressed.

Jinx made a surprised face. “Wait, what?!” she asked and Cam looked at her.

“You know, the whole fake-married thing,” she said and Jinx gaped.

“WHAT?!” she cried and Cam glared at Adam.

“You guys didn’t even bother telling her you’re not really together?!” she asked, then groaned. “I thought Neil was lying,” she said, walking off.

Jinx crossed her arms. “So, if you’re not even really a couple- which I don’t really get- why do you say you are, why did you adopt a baby together, and why the fuck were you so pissed at me?” she asked and Adam gave her a sheepish shrug.

“I really, really wanted a baby and I was told I needed someone else. Tommy’s my best friend in the whole world and he was so good with our friends children so I just randomly asked him if he’d adopt a baby with me, but he agreed and we talked it out and… we did,” he said, shrugging. “Everybody had to think we’re a happy couple so we could get our son, so we sold it.” He cringed. “And I was pissed because I’m a possessive bastard and even if he wasn’t REALLY my lover, we agreed from the start to be platonically together for the rest of ever and shit and I was pissed,” he said, then shrugged. “And, there’s the part where I’m pretty sure I’ve been in love with him a lot longer than I even realized. Everybody told me I was gonna get in trouble with a boy that pretty and that straight around me all the time, since everybody kinda pegged my ‘type’ a long time ago, and I’ve always had a soft spot for him, from the start. I just didn’t realize how fucked I was until after we’d had Jonah a little while,” he admitted. He smiled shyly. “And I sorta freaked out on him this morning and slipped that I love him so we sorta are together for real now because he admitted he’s been in love with me for about as long as I’ve known I was in love with him, so like… big misunderstanding straightened out,” he said, nodding with finality.

Jinx just snorted. “Guys are fucking stupid,” she said flatly, turning to walk away without another word.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Adam smiled sleepily, playing with Tommy’s hair as they lay curled up in bed, trying to get some sleep while they drove through the night to the venue. Adam thought Tommy was asleep, but he rolled over in his arms and Adam smiled. “Hey,” he whispered and Tommy smiled, reaching up to catch his hand, lacing their fingers together.

“What was all of that stuff this morning?” Tommy asked curiously. “I mean, not the dramatic shit, but like… why the hell did you break down crying about nobody wanting to keep you?” he asked softly.

Adam sighed. “Every boy I’ve really cared about, even just a little, didn’t want me too long. I thought it had happened again, just… differently.”

“What do you mean?” Tommy asked and Adam shrugged, reaching out to play with Tommy’s bangs.

“Brad loved me, he just wanted to fuck around with other guys. He had the decency to tell me I wasn’t enough alone anymore, but other guys weren’t so nice. I mean, they either dump me for somebody prettier or I break up with them because they cheat or want to cheat, or we split up because he just got tired of me. It’s so fucking hard to be into monogamy in the modern gay man’s world. You see monogamous couples all the time but they’re all ordinary guys like… bankers and accountants and shit. They live in white houses in suburban neighborhoods and drive beige cars and wear khakis and loafers and work in a cubicle.” He made a face. “And that’s cool if they’re happy, but I’m from the scene where ninety-nine and a half out of a hundred times, guys want to fuck everybody and anybody and even ‘real’ couples bring in a dude for a threesome every other weekend, you know?” he said, making a face. “I’m just… not! Sex is fun, flirting is fun, but I don’t want it like that. I mean, I’ve messed around with guys but I’ve always wanted one person to love me, and only want _me_ in our bedroom, you know?” he said, sighing. “But it’s never worked that way. And that shit fucking hurts, I won’t even pretend to be strong enough to handle it.”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “Why would you think _I_ would do that? And really, crying?” he asked and Adam shrugged.

“It hurt more when I thought it was you, not because of the whole ‘platonically exclusive’ thing, because that-“ He sighed. “That was the most amazing thing I could imagine. I mean, sure, this is better, knowing you love me, but like… the idea that someone loved me enough as a _person_ to spend their life with me even without the promise even monogamous sex… that’s deep, you know?” He cringed. “And yes, crying. A broken heart sucks but thinking my family’s about to be ripped apart is so much worse. Because if you were cheating, it’s not just me on the fall, it’s Jonah too. I couldn’t describe to you now what it was like to think that my baby was going to miss out on the happy family life he deserved. I just _knew_ he would be hurt and I’d live my whole life being resented for making you leave and shit… it was just impossible.”

Tommy smiled sadly. “Adam, I’m so sorry you ever had to feel that,” he said honestly. “I love you and Jonah with everything in me. You guys are everything for me, okay?” he asked, stroking Adam’s bangs off his forehead. “And I did agree to be with you forever platonically because it was important. It may be hard but the only thing you needed was to meet someone with the same priorities with you.” He smiled at Adam tenderly. “My priority is our family first, my own happiness is farther down the list.”

Adam smiled and leaned in to kiss him sweetly, still amazed at how perfectly Tommy’s lips fit against his. He pulled away, eyes shut as he lay contentedly against his pillow, thumb sliding across Tommy’s jaw slowly, soothingly. Tommy wiggled closer and curled against his chest. “You know,” Adam mumbled softly. “I feel like this should feel like a bigger deal. I mean… it’s not every day you admit your love to people, right?”

Tommy chuckled, breath making Adam’s shirt flutter some. “We could have sex,” he suggested and Adam hummed.

“Maybe in the morning,” he said sleepily, and Tommy nodded, snuggling closer.

“Sounds good,” he answered fuzzily, fisting a hand in the material of Adam’s shirt as Adam held him, fingers splayed along his ribs.

Just as they were nearly asleep, however, they heard a voice they recognized well. “DAAADAAAA!” Adam whined and Tommy chuckled, sighing heavily.

“Shit, that’s his ‘fuck you, Jinx, I want my parents’ signal, huh?” Tommy said and Adam laughed, rolling away slightly.

“I’ll get him, you just get ready to snuggle the fuck out of a sweet little dude,” he said, kissing Tommy with a big smack as he slid out of bed and headed out to get Jonah.

Tommy rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling, thinking hard about the choices he had made. He’d fallen in love with his best friend, he was the father of an adopted child, and yet he couldn’t imagine any better way to be living his life. He was still thinking hard when Adam got back, Jonah babbling on his hip. “DADDY!” Jonah cried, reaching for him. “Snug snug!” he said and Tommy blinked, looking back.

Adam put Jonah down then crawled over Tommy, flopping down on top of the covers beside him, propping on one elbow. “What’re you thinking about, TommyJoe?” he asked, smiling at him with so much affection in his eyes, Tommy wondered how the hell he missed it all along.

Tommy just held onto Jonah’s waist as he sat on Tommy’s belly, fluffing his hair, and smiled at Adam. “I’m such a lucky man,” he said simply, feeling more contentment and clarity than he could remember ever having felt before.

Adam just beamed and leaned in to kiss his temple, and then kiss Jonah, who made a face and wiped away his kiss. “So am I.”

**Author's Note:**

> This story does have a sequel but the sequel doesn't HAVE to be read and it can stand alone apart from this story. It isn't on AO3 yet but it can be found [here](http://heartsdesire456.livejournal.com/910040.html)


End file.
